Best Friends For Never
by tommyxloser
Summary: Haley and Nathan have been best friends their whole lives because of the attachment that their parents have. But it seems that ever since something that happened in their freshman year, the connection they once shared had vanished. full summary inside!
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:** Haley and Nathan have been best friends their whole lives because of the attachment that their parents have. Before they could even remember their parents had been planning their spring wedding (with lots of sunflowers and bright colors). But it seems that ever since something that happened in their freshman year, the connection they once shared had vanished. No one other than the two of them ever knew what exactly happened to the two inseparable friends, but what exactly will happen when they're forced back together because of their conniving parents?

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_It's like I'm lost  
It's like I'm giving up slowly  
It's like your a ghost that's haunting me  
Leave me alone  
And I know these voices in my head are mine alone  
And I know I'll never change my ways if I don't give you up now_

**-Kelly Clarkson**

**Chapter one:** What I wouldn't give to have_ normal_ parents…

"Haley, stop fidgeting, it's not attractive." Lydia James told her youngest daughter as she stood on the front doorstep of her oldest and dearest friend's home.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing I'm doing it." Haley told her mother sardonically and with a small sarcastic smile as she straightened her knee-length white skirt yet again.

Lydia rolled her eyes and gave her husband a look so that he should ring the doorbell. _Please don't be Nathan, please don't be Nathan. _Haley pleaded silently to any form of higher power that the planet possessed; but of course. She's Haley James. She doesn't get what she prays for.

"Mr. and Mrs. James how are you this evening? Mrs. James you look great tonight." Nathan greeted her parents with a large grin that didn't meet his eyes. Haley rolled her eyes and continued to pull at the bottom of her simple baby-pink t-shirt. Nathan always put on the same, they just didn't laugh about it with the other anymore; that bird had flown over two years ago. "Oh don't worry Hales, you look great too." He told her with the same mischievous glint in his eye that he had addressed her parents with.

Haley rolled her eyes again and entered the large house after Nathan had stepped out of the doorway. She followed her parents into the living room, and sat on the couch with Nathan, that seat seemed to be reserved for her every Friday night dinner since she was 6 years old.

"Oh, Lydia, Jimmy, Haley! I hadn't realized you were here!" Deb Scott said as she entered the formal living room with an apron draped around her small waist.

"Its fine Deb, we were just sitting here marveling the photo albums you've put out." And of course, a large leather bound photo album lay between the laps of the James parents, open to pictures of Nathan and Haley when they were little. Deb walked over to them and looked at the pictures upside-down.

"Oh I remember that day. When we were at the beach house in California and we were all sitting around on the beach. It was so peaceful. I wish we could do that again sometime." Nathan and Haley exchanged a terrified look at the mention of those two months that they spent in California two summers ago.

"Oh Deb! I have a marvelous idea!" Lydia exclaimed as she shot a pointed look towards the two teenagers that were looking at each other worriedly. She was curious, but wanted to follow through with the scheme that had just popped into her head. "How about we go there again this summer? We could spend a month at the beach house again, and just be a huge family again." At the older woman's idea, the two old best friends turned their fearful glances towards their mothers, pleading silently that they had heard wrong.

Deb caught the look that her friend had thrown their two children, and was immediately taken to the idea of a nice family/friends vacation again. "Oh that's a fantastic idea Lydia! Let me talk it over with Dan after dinner and we can set everything up." And that's precisely what they were going to do. Set up their children.

Haley and Nathan turned back to each other with the same heightened fear they had shared a few moment before. They of course knew what their mothers were up to, but were too afraid to mention what a bad idea it would be. "Oh, look at that picture of Nate and Haley sleeping in the same bed at the beach house." Deb cooed as she pointed out a certain picture to Lydia. "Oh aren't they adorable together? Oh, what are you wearing dears? Nathan, you should know to wear a shirt when in the same bed as a girl, and Haley, you must have been wearing one of those tube top things, huh?" Deb handed the picture to Nathan, whose eyes abruptly widened with shock.

He handed the picture to a very confused Haley who immediately started choking on the sip of water she had just taken. The picture was of the two of them in Haley's bedroom at their California vacation home. Haley had taken the picture herself as they both lay in bed together. "Um, Mrs. Scott? How did you get this picture? I took it with my own camera." Haley was so frightened at what the answer would be, she wasn't sure if she should run from the room, or tear the memory to shreds.

"Oh, your mother sent me all of the digital pictures off your cameras when we got home." Deb paused, not understanding what the big deal was. "Are you alright Haley? You look pale."

"I'm fine Mrs. Scott." She couldn't help but look back down at the picture, hoping that no one would question her anymore.

_That night._ She could remember it like it was yesterday. It was so fresh in her mind, she could probably write a whole book about that one night, and all the feelings that had been shared. Neglect, friendship, love---

"Haley, you really should consider wearing something a little less revealing when you're in the same bed as a boy. We know better than to try and keep you out of each others beds because we would drag you guys away from eachother when you were younger, but you're both growing teenagers with hormones—"

Jimmy James was reprimanding his daughter, when he was interrupted by the very embarrassed girl. "DAD!"

"Oh, don't be embarrassed Haley! I'm sure that you and Nathan have though of each other in that way a few times! You're both very attractive young people!" Dan Scott told the two teenagers as he entered the room and sat beside his wife.

"DAD!" This time it was Nathan's embarrassment that reprimanded his parent, but neither Dan nor Jimmy seemed fazed at all, they just seemed amused.

"So, Nathan, my daughter's not attractive enough for you?" Jimmy asked in a joking tone that was lost on Nathan who began to stutter.

"N-no, I… I… I just… D-don't…" Suddenly, he seemed to comprehend everything. "Know how to take a joke," he finished his previous stuttering.

The parents all gave a collective chuckle then went back to teasing their children. "Nathan, it's okay, I'm sure that Haley has thought of all your muscles before." Lydia said slyly as her daughter hid her face in her hands.

"And I think it's okay if you think of my daughter's chest Nathan. I would be worried if you didn't." Jimmy encouraged with a small chuckle as Nathan blushed.

"Oh, Dan, wouldn't they make the most adorable babies?" Deb asked her husband fondly.

"Yes dear; with his eyes and her hair." Dan said as he turned to look into his wife's eyes.

"And her nose, and his mouth! That child would be unstoppable! And we would spoil it so!" Lydia envisioned while staring at the two people in question.

"MOM! WE _ARE NOT_ GETTING MARRIED, HAVING CHILDREN, ET CETERA! WE AREN'T EVEN FRIENDS ANYMORE!" Haley just lost her temper and exploded at her mother. She couldn't believe that neither sets of parents had noticed that the two of them never spent time together alone anymore. The only time they ever interacted anymore was when they spent time with mutual friends, or the times when their parents pushed them together. She couldn't believe that they were actually planning their future children!

"HALEY LAUREN JAMES! You _do not_ speak to your mother like that!" Jimmy reprimanded angrily as he laid his hand on his wife's shoulder.

"I'm sorry dad, mom, Mr. and Mrs. Scott. I lost my temper. I'm sorry." Her voice was low, and she could feel the anger slowly subsiding, and she knew she had to come up with an excuse for her outburst. "Its just that Nathan and I don't think of each other like that, and it's weird to hear about having children with someone you don't picture in that sense."

"That's quite alright dear. How about we go into the dining room and start our dinner?" Deb asked quickly to cover the awkward silence. There were nods from everyone, and they all walk towards the formal dining room, and settled themselves in their usual seats before anyone spoke.

"So, Dan, how is the car dealership going?" Jimmy asked.

"Quite well, that's why I was late to join you all. I was on the phone with…" Haley phased them all out, looking across the table at Nathan, who seemed to of been looking at her as well. Their eyes met for a few moments, just staring at each other over their water glasses, but then Haley remember the thing that had broken them apart. The thing that could bring tears to her eyes in the happiest of circumstances, so she simply looked down at the photo still clutched in her hand, and slipped the thick paper into her pocket.

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**AN If anyone wants me to update this story, then review please! I'm not really sure if I like the story myself, so if you want to hear more, then tell me please!**

**I also am looking for a beta/music-guru for if I continue this story, so if you're up for the job, then let me know in a review. Basically I just need someone to read and help me with spelling/grammar errors, and helping me find a song that corresponds with my chapter, so let me know, because I'm not so sure if the one I chose at the begining was any good...**

**Keira**

**P.S. Is it just me, or does anyone else notice that the name Jimmy is a shortened version of the name James, so Haley's father's name is James James? Just one of my random observations.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N:I know I just started this story earlier tonight, but I already got 5 reviews, and that's good enough for me to give you another chapter! I just spent the last 45 minutes writing it, and I am extremely tired, so I hope it is up to par! And now, I give you…. Chapter 2 of Friends For Never!**

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**Summary:** Haley and Nathan have been best friends their whole lives because of the attachment that their parents have. Before they could even remember their parents had been planning their spring wedding (with lots of sunflowers and bright colors). But it seems that ever since something that happened in their freshman year, the connection they once shared had vanished. No one other than the two of them ever knew what exactly happened to the two inseparable friends, but what exactly will happen when they're forced back together because of their conniving parents?

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_I have a shirt that belongs to you  
And I use it to guess all the things you do  
I already met your mom and dad  
Said I'm the best one you never had  
And I think you should really reconsider_

_**-The Donnas**_

**Chapter two:** Hiding away, saving the day, like it never really mattered… **-Hilary Duff**

"Nathan, why don't you take Haley up to your room while we talk about that trip we want to take this summer?" Deb asked of her son as she poured a glass of scotch for each of the adults.

"I don't think that's a good idea. We want to be a part of this conversation too." Nathan told his mother defiantly as he sat on the same couch he had been on before dinner with Haley.

"Nathan, listen to your mother." Dan said sternly with a glare towards his son, and then shot his eyes towards the stairs. Nathan got up slowly, taking Haley by the arm, and pulling her towards the stairs leading up towards his bedroom. Once she had risen from her seat, she jerked her arm from her grasp and gave him a glare as if he had just stolen her most prized possession.

She headed up the familiar staircase leading to the room she hadn't been in for more than two years. Her heart was beating through her chest a mile a minute, attempting to escape her chest and become like one of those chattering teeth toys that bump along a table. She wondered when Nathan would give her the oh-so-familiar cock smirk that seemed to be his trademark through the past few years. But she knew better. She had known him too long and well to ever fall for the walls that he put up around him since she had left him. Not that she cared. He had hurt her too much to actually care how much she hurt him. The walls he put up were to block people from getting too close and actually knowing him like she had; but she knew how he felt in that sense. She hadn't let anyone else into her life since he had betrayed her trust. Trust was something that Haley James didn't give lightly, and she thought that her best friend of her whole life deserved it the most; but apparently she was wrong. She was too strong to let anyone else in and ruin her strength. Haley was strong, weak, independent, needy, colorful, plain, loving, stern, and she is every contradiction that you could come up with. She had so many sides to her, she could surprise anyone with one simple act. Anyone except Nathan.

Nathan was the opposite of Haley, yet the same. Haley was the nerdy cheerleader, and Nathan was the popular jock. Haley got straight A's while Nathan wouldn't have gotten into high school without her constant help. And Haley was selfless and caring, while Nathan didn't care what anyone felt of thought. Anyone except Haley.

She could feel him walking behind her on the stairs, and she knew that she couldn't avoid it any longer. She was finally going to be alone with him after all this time. But when a good plan came into her mind, she bypassed Nathan's bedroom door, and went towards the upstairs office that she had spent many hours of her childhood in. She could remember playing computer games in there with Nathan for hours on end, just trying her hardest to beat him at it; even though she never did. Their eleven year-ld selves flashed in her mind as she approached the end of the hall, and placed her and on the door. She could practically see the way they would both sit in the large office chair in front of the long mahogany desk, and type their instant messages to either Lucas or Brooke, their best friends outside the two of them, or fight over who would get to use the mouse in the drag-n-drop game. She could almost hear the laughter. Before Nathan's voice had deepened, and before she was self-conscious of her laugh. Before they would ever imagine not being friends.

She pushed the white wood door open, and entered the warm wood paneled room with caution. It seemed to have frozen in time. Almost as if some kind of magic had capsulated it so that she could come back all these years later and feel guilty for the way things had turned out. The pictures still hung on the walls and more sat all across the desk in various picture frames, and awards won by both of them still lay on the table behind the desk, waiting to be knocked over again, as they had done many times. She traced the edge of the glossy wood des with her index finger, and sat cautiously in the desk chair that now didn't seem so big. Both of them certainly wouldn't fit in it anymore, not unless they sat atop one another, and that wouldn't be happening. She brought her knee up to her chest and lay her chin on her silky knee, examining the pictures cautiously. They seemed to be between the time periods of their fourth birthdays and some time in the fifth grade. That had been when both of their parents had caved and bought them each a computer for their own bedrooms.

When she came to a cute picture of a time where they looked to be about seven, she froze. That was what she had been afraid of. The stabbing pain in her heart that seemed to physically hurt her. A young Haley had her eyes glued shut, trying hard as she could to blow a bigger bubble with her gum, and it seemed almost as if she was in a very strenuous activity, because of her facial expression. The only thing that the picture didn't show was her a few moments later with the bubble gum splattered all across her face because of the kiss on the cheek from Nathan that the photographer had captured.

She took a deep breath and leant down to press in the button of the computer tower and wait for it to boot up. As she waited, she glanced at the largest of the pictures on the desk. It was an eight by eleven black-and-white shot of Haley resting her head on Nathan's shoulder as the slept on her family's couch. They couldn't of been more than four, and she couldn't remember anything to do with that day or when the photograph was taken, but she did remember it being her favorite.

She would always look at it and wonder how two people could be so at peace with the world. She started wondering this around the time she turned seven, and she couldn't help but make up stories that went along with the sleeping for of herself and her best friend. Once, the story was that they had gone to the beach and made a huge sand-castle, and when they had left, a small crab had moved into it, and they were so happy to have spotted a crab that they fell asleep watching the Little Mermaid, imagining what the crab would do with the amazing house they had made it.

Most likely they had spent the day teaching their mother how to say "maalk" (milk) properly, and simply fallen asleep trying to figure out what they wanted to eat for dinner; but even for a little kid, she recognized the peace and tranquility that filled both of their faces and hearts in that photograph.

Haley snapped out of her daze and focused back on the beeping computer as she typed in her AOL screen-name and password. She waited patiently, then checked her e-mail before she got an instant message from her best friend; Brooke Davis.

**xX2hawt4uXx:** T-G, I'm board!

**BabbiieJamezz:** Cheery, I'm n the Scott house tryin to find sumthin 2 do wile my arranged marriage is set so I'm srry I don't feel bad 4 u.

**xX2hawt4uXx:** come over her

**BabbiieJamezz:** I can't

**xX2hawt4uXx:** yes u can the tree outside N's window go's rite 2 the driveway

**BabbiieJames:** ok, brt

**xX2hawt4uXx:** YAY!

"You know, that's not the best way to sit in a skirt Hales." A deep voice called from the doorway as Haley was turning off the computer. She gave an exasperated sigh and looked down at her wide open legs.

"You've seen me in a lot less." She said sarcastically as she walked past him out of the room with all those memories. She walked briskly down the hall and into the room she knew to be Nathan's. "Some things never change," she sighed bitterly as she walked through the mess on his floor to the window that looked out into the front yard, and coincidentally, Brooke's house across the street.

"What are you doing?" He asked smugly as she battled to open the window.

"I'm getting out of here."

"If you have a way out, you're taking me with you." He told her forcefully as she finally unstuck the window and stuck her left leg out of it.

"Well then, come on."

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**A.N:This chapter was kind of a transition slash intro chapter, because I never really explained the characters in the last chapter. In the next I'll have more into's to Brooke and Lucas (who I see being a lot like they are on the show, minus Leyton, because that makes me wanna be sick)… But we'll still intro them because it is an AU fic, and I want to intro everyone!**

**I just finished setting the outline to what exactly happened to Nathan and Haley that made them stop being friends, and if I do say so myself, It's Good! I can't wait to spill everything! But right now, I've been awake for more than 26 hours straight, so I am literally closing my eyes as I type. I hope you enjoyed this angst/reminiscent chapter.**

**Well, once again, review por favor!**

**Keira**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary:** Haley and Nathan have been best friends their whole lives because of the attachment that their parents have. Before they could even remember their parents had been planning their spring wedding (with lots of sunflowers and bright colors). But it seems that ever since something that happened in their freshman year, the connection they once shared had vanished. No one other than the two of them ever knew what exactly happened to the two inseparable friends, but what exactly will happen when they're forced back together because of their conniving parents?

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_Don't wanna think about it, don't wanna talk about it  
I'm just so sick about it, Can't believe it's ending this way  
Just so confused about it, it'll end up in the news about it  
I just can't do without ya, tell me it's this fair?_

**-Justin Timberlake**

**Chapter three:** Friends like mine will never let you down, until you hit the ground… **-the Donnas**

"Does anyone really know what happened to our children?" Lydia asked sullenly after both teenagers had disappeared up the stairs. There was a murmur of negative answer from the other parents that had already downed liberal amounts of scotch. "It's just so sad that they're not friends anymore. They were so cute together, and then they just suddenly stopped talking." Lydia said, slightly tipsy as the alcohol started to enter her blood stream.

"They really would make adorable babies." Deb said wistfully.

"It ended some time around Haley's fifteenth birthday." Jimmy said as he took another gulp of his own scotch, and then leant over to refill it from the bottle lying on the coffee table between the two couples.

"You know, they wouldn't even have to have Nathan's eyes and Haley's hair. Any mix of them would be perfect." Dan said giddily as he too refilled his glass.

"No it wasn't her fifteenth birthday. It was more like Christmas that year."

"No they would be adorable with Nathan's blue eyes and Haley's auburn hair."

"No I'm positive that it was her birthday."

"But you have to admit that they're both attractive kids Deb."

"How would you know? We were gone for almost three months between Christmas and her birthday."

"Of course they're attractive kids Dan. Look at their parents!" Deb told her husband with a small giggle.

"So how would you know if it was closer to Christmas then?" James questioned his adamant wife.

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"AH!"

"Haley! Are you okay?" Nathan called out of his bedroom window when he heard her scream. Haley didn't scream like that. She yelled, sure, yelling was her normal volume, but screaming in fear was not something she did easily.

She gave a little giggle when she saw his head stuck out the window with a look of concern written across his harsh features. "I'm fine." She told him roughly when she realized that she had been laughing because of him. The only reason that she had laughed because of him in the past two years was when he did something stupid and was called on it. He had caused her nothing but pain, and she wouldn't give him the false idea that they were fine again when they most certainly were not.

He rolled his eyes and turned back into his room, trying to find a different shirt to put on instead of his blue dress shirt, when he heard her scream again. He stuck his head out the open window again. The crisp air prickled his chest as he pulled his new shirt over his head as he tried to determine what was wrong.

"How many times have I climbed this tree before? And this time, I almost fall twice, and I lost my shoe." She whined, then her face became stony as he started to laugh. Why exactly was he laughing? It most certainly wasn't funny! She jumped from the branch she was on and fell to the grass with a soft 'humph' on the dewy grass. She straightened up and started walking determinedly across the perfectly cut lawn of the Scott house. Why did he laugh? It wasn't funny at all! All she said was that she lost her shoe, and almost fell from a tree… How does that qualify as humor? Well, maybe the part about loosing my shoe was funny, but falling from the tree wasn't. _It's not like we don't know what that feels like; we've each done it a million times_. Haley sighed exasperatedly as she leant down to pick up the shoe in question that had fallen as she attempted her break for freedom.

"Haley wait up!" He called from behind her. Ha! Like she would ever wait for him ever again after what he did! He was lucky that she waited so long back then, but now the anger had multiplied by at least 200 percent. There was no was in hell she would wait for him ever again.

She sped up her pace, and walked straight into Brookes house and up the stairs to her best friends bedroom.

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**The next morning…**

Haley snuggled deeper into the blankets with Brooke, hoping to feel any kind of comfort, knowing that she couldn't gain it from any other person in the world. Or at least she hadn't been successfully comforted by anyone else in the past 2 years. "Honey, how long are you going to let him hurt you?"

"But that's the thing Brooke. He didn't hurt me this time. It was just too much for me to handle." She took a deep breath, hoping to clear the phlegm from her throat from sleeping. "It's just that whenever I'm with him, I don't know whether to hug him and say it'll all be okay, or if I should scream and storm out. But last night, all those memories came back from when we were little. I just couldn't shake it; and I was so angry that by the time I got here I had already broken down." Hot tears were rolling down her cheeks and onto Brooke's shoulder as she spoke, and she couldn't seem to stop the flow.

"I just can't be around him without breaking down Brooke." She sobbed into her best friends shoulder. That was the thing about Brooke; she never needed compensation for her time spent consoling a friend. Some friends would hold times like these against the person when they needed something; but Brooke never did that. In the last two years, Haley had snuck out of her house countless times to run into her bed and cry her eyes out; mostly over a certain blue eyed boy that had broken her, but Brooke never held it against her, she would just move over in her bed and wrap the covers protectively around Haley's small frame.

"Hales. You know you never did tell me what happened between you two. Just one day, you suddenly stopped talking to him, and blew up any time her came near you." She wasn't really trying to pry into the situation, because she knew now that there was no chance of getting a straight answer, but she always wondered what had happened to the once inseparable pair.

"I told you Brooke, he changed. When he became the big-bad-basketball-star; he changed, and it hurt me that he changed."

"But you guys were still friends for most of freshman year. Then, just suddenly, you ran away at the sight of him." Haley's head was spinning. She knew the exact night where her opinion of her best friend changed. That night replayed itself in her dreams constantly. At least twice a week he would pop up and the memory would replay itself for her to marvel in. Then she would weak up in tears and run to Brooke's empty house, and cry until the morning came, and she was forced to put the Great Wall of China back up around her heart. She didn't have all of the details in her memory, but she remembered vividly when her once-best friend tried to explain his actions to her; and her mind came up with a few visuals to go along with them.

Both girls were snapped from their reveries with the sound of a cell phone ringing.

_**'Cause you're everywhere to me  
And when I close my eyes it's you I see  
You're everything I know  
that makes me believe  
I'm not alone  
I'm not alone**_

"that's Lucas." Brooke told her friends as she reached towards the bedside table where her cell phone lay. "Hey baby… Yeah… No… Okay we'll be there… What do we have to do to convince them?... Okay we'll be there in half an hour… okay, love you too." She slapped the phone shut and pushed herself up from her large bed. Haley groaned at the loss of the bony pillow she had just lost.

"Get up Tutor-Girl. We're going down to the River Court to hang out with Lucas and Jake and Tim." She yelled to her from the bathroom.

"This isn't funny Brooke. I know who else will be there. They can't play basketball with only three people." Brooke groaned and continued getting ready as Haley left the room to head back to her own empty house.

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**River Court… **

"Dude, she totally spaced, and ran away, I just don't know what to do anymore." Nathan jumped and dunked a three with nothing but net.

"Maybe it'll help me to understand this story better if you tell me what happened in freshman year." Lucas asked of his brother nonchalantly as he caught the ball and threw it over his head to make another basket.

"Luke, I've told you about a thousand times that I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to hurt Haley more by telling you." He took a deep breath, and caught the ball that Tim had passed him. "And besides, you would hate me too, and I need someone that doesn't hate me." He shot the ball again, and made it in, this time with a little resistance from the rim.

"Nate, whatever you did, it couldn't have been that bad. You're not a bad person." Jake told him from the benched off to the side of the court.

"I wasn't a bad person before I did what I did. No one but a bad person would hurt Haley like I did." Nathan Scott is not a bad person. He knew exactly where he made his mistake, even before Haley shouted at him when she found out. He wasn't as dumb as some people thought he was either. He knew how the world worked. He knew that Haley had no intention of forgiving him any time soon, and he knew that he deserved it. But it didn't make loosing your best friend hurt any less. If anything it hurt more, because he knew that it was all his fault.

_Flashback_

_Haley and Nathan walked silently up to the gate outside the new school they would be attending. They stopped walking as they reached the gate; Haley bit on her lower lip, pulling her binder closer to her chest, and staring at the looming school; while Nathan just watched Haley._

"_Come on Hales, it'll be fine. I'll be right with you the whole time." She gave him a large, grateful smile and Nathan slung his arm over her shoulders protectively as they entered the school gates, heading towards the main doors._

"_Does this mean that you two finally admit that you're going out?" Came a loud bubbly voice in the crowd. Soon Brooke Davis emerged, flinging herself into Haley's arms, and holding each other tight as if they expected the other to disappear. "I've missed you so much Baby James." Brooke whispered softly in Haley's ear._

"_I missed you too B. Davis." They then, held eachother at arms length, and examined the other up and down._

"_Oh, Hales! You're hair is so much lighter! AND, Oh My God! Baby James has a CHEST!" Nathan and a confused Lucas both cracked up laughing at Brooke's statement and the way that Haley's face had turned a light shade of red._

_I can not believe you just said that Davis!" Haley scolded her friend playfully, while smacking Nathan on the shoulder for laughing. "It's not funny!" Haley turned a few shade pinker and held her binder closer to her chest, in an attempt to hide what Brooke had noticed._

_Lucas clapped Nathan on the shoulder, as a way of greeting after he had calmed his giggles, and they pounded fists. "Hey Luke; had a good summer."_

_Lucas gave Brooke a smirk, then turned back to his half brother. "Yeah, you?"_

_Nathan turned to Haley, "I don't know, did we have a good summer Hales?"_

_Haley's eyes went glassy, and a wide smile came across her face as she went off in her own world. "Hell yeah." She answered in an almost whisper, while still off in her own thoughts. Brooke raised an eyebrow at Lucas, but he shrugged his shoulders in confusion._

_Nathan gave a small chuckle and waved a hand in front of her face. "Hales. Enough of that." He seemed to of turned a small shade pinker than his usual skin tone also. When Haley realized what she had been doing, she turned red again, realizing that Nathan knew exactly what she had been thinking of. But he leant down and whispered in her ear, "That's okay, I know exactly the day you're thinking of." She turned redder, and slapped him on the shoulder._

"_I have no idea what you're talking about" she lied while turning back to Brooke, who was giving her a questioning look. She shook her head, and grabbed Brooke's arm and dragged her towards the front of the school. She turned back and saw Nathan and Lucas staring after them. "Are You Guys Coming?" She yelled over the crowd, and they walked quickly to catch up to them, draping their arm around their respective girls._

_end flashback

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**A.N: I know that I said there would be an intro to both Lucas and Brooke, but I didn't really feel like going into their characters, so I just introduced them as characters. I hope that's okay with everyone. I'm trying my very best to update this story good, so I hope my updating is satisfactory to everyone! I love the reviews that I'm getting, and I promise that the 'secret' will be unveiled soon because I am the kind of person that I don't like to leave people waiting any more than I like to be kept waiting, so that will be revealed soon enough. And if you notice, there is a little secret-thing in that flashback, and that will be revealed probably AFTER the flashback I will give for the huge secret fallout, but I think that I was pretty straight forward with what it was, so a lot of people will probably figure it out; but if you do, and you want to know if your guess is right, please don't leave it in a review and spoil it for other people, if you really want to know, PM me, and I will tell you if you're right or wrong…**

**I think that's all my notes/updates/concerns/another-thing-so-I-can-use-another-slash/thing…..**

**Review please!**

**Keira**

**P.S.OTH tonight!!!!**

**P.P.S. I might have another update for you later tonight, so watch out, I'm on a roll! YAY! SO that means all the secrets will be revealed sooner than you think!**

**P.P.P.S. Did you guys like my random-ness with the parents in the beginning? I just thought that it would be fun, and I was laughing so hard while I wrote it. (I got the idea of it from the movie While You Were Sleeping, because the family in it has random, broke conversations like that)… Hope you enjoyed it!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary:** Haley and Nathan have been best friends their whole lives because of the attachment that their parents have. Before they could even remember their parents had been planning their spring wedding (with lots of sunflowers and bright colors). But it seems that ever since something that happened in their freshman year, the connection they once shared had vanished. No one other than the two of them ever knew what exactly happened to the two inseparable friends, but what exactly will happen when they're forced back together because of their conniving parents?

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_I can't explain this feeling (yeah)  
I think about it everyday  
And even though we've moved on (uh huh)  
It gets so hard to walk away  
I'm gonna remember you, you're gonna remember me  
_**-Paula Deanda**

**Chapter four:** Sometimes it's hard to take that quote seriously, "What you have is a gift, that's why they call it the 'present'"

Brooke pulled up to the River Court in her VW Beetle, and set her face in a scowl when she saw who was there. "Lucas Eugene Scott!" She yelled to her boyfriend. He turned around slowly knowing that he had done something wrong, just not knowing what exactly it was.

"Someone's in trouble." Tim Smith sing-songed as Brook came closer to them, her face set aggressively.

"Shut up Tim." Nathan hit his friend on the back of the head, and watched as Brooke neared them. Everyone knew not to get in the line of fire when Brook Davis got angry; Tim was just too stupid to remember it. The only people that would ever actually challenger her were either Haley or Lucas; but more so Haley, because Lucas was afraid he wouldn't be getting any if he said too much.

"Brooke, what did I do?" Lucas asked meekly as his girlfriend neared him.

"You didn't do anything! That's the problem! I came here to prove Haley wrong that you wouldn't invite HIM" she pointed her finger to Nathan, "to the same place you invite her, but I just got proved wrong! Why would you invite HIM?? He hurt Haley! I just spent my night consoling he while she was crying her eyes out, and then you invite him and her to the same place!?! Do you like to see one of your best friends crying?? Or do you just not like to see me anymore, because that can certainly be arranged!"

Lucas cringed at Brooke's yelling. Everyone present knew exactly how amazing Brooke Davis' temper could be, and not one of them was any the happier that their friend was being subjected to it. Because Brooke's anger radiated like heat from a fireplace; it could be felt throughout a room by the coldest people.

"Brooke, you know that's not what I want." Lucas decided to answer the least dangerous of the questions posed. Of course he didn't want to break up with her. He was in love with her; because no matter what you know about Brooke Davis', you'll never quite know what a wonderful person she is. She could surprise a telepath with her kindness and generosity, while still being the confident, cheery, Queen-Bee of Tree Hill.

"Well, you have a hell of a way of showing it! He hurt Haley, and you still hang out with him like he's a saint! What exactly do you think would have come from this situation?" She asked while animatedly expressing herself with her hands.

"I can leave." Nathan told them simply as he started to head towards his Tahoe.

"DON'T move Nathan Scott!" Brooke told him without taking her eyes off Lucas' watery blue eyes, he was the reason that this fight started, and she wasn't going to back down on a fight that had been long coming. Nathan didn't deserve the kindness that he was receiving from her boyfriend. Sure she didn't know what Nathan did, but she knew that Haley wasn't a weak person, and if what he did had her crying the way she had been for the past two years, then it was pretty bad.

"Brooke, this isn't the time or the place." Lucas told the girl before him forcefully. He wasn't a wimp. He loved her, but he wasn't going to let her insult his friend, not when none of them other than Nathan and Haley knew the whole story, or what exactly happened that triggered Haley's unhappiness.

"The hell it's not." She didn't even acknowledge the four other people standing watching their fight. "This has been long coming, and you knew it the moment I went to comfort Haley that night more than two years ago because of whatever _he_ did." She pointed her red-painted finger-nail back at Nathan without ever leaving Lucas' eyes.

"Brooke. We don't know what he did. I'm not going to pass judgment on my _brother_ until I know what happened, and if I never know, than I'll never question his morals." His voice was low and even, but anyone that knew Lucas Scott knew that he didn't raise his voice. He yelling would be better than that calm demeanor that he set when her was angry. He was frightening when he was adamant.

"I don't care if we don't know what happened. You know Haley wouldn't cry or throw away a life long friendship over something stupid. He did something terrible and you know it!"

"Yes I do! I know he did something bad, but I'm not going to judge breaking up a friendship and a family because he did something terrible. We've all done terrible things before. I know that you have, and I don't think that you'd want to loose your best friend and your brother because you made a mistake. You haven't heard him when he talks about it. He's more sorry than she could ever comprehend." He still hadn't raised his voice one octave, but everyone in the vicinity was frozen to his or her spot.

"I know I've made mistakes, but I've never did whatever he did. Haley's snuck into my house at least once a week since whatever he did happened, and every time, she cries herself to sleep. I miss the old Haley, the Haley that was happy. I don't see how you can—"

Brooke was cut off by a very calm voice that could only belong to one person. "That's enough Brooke." Haley told her best friend softly. "I appreciate it, I really do, but leave Lucas alone about him being friends with Nathan. I don't blame him. If I never found out the things that I know now, I would still be friends with him." A ghost of a smile crossed her features, but it vanished just as quickly as it had come.

For the first time since she had arrived at the River Court, Brooke's eyes left Lucas'. "But Haley—"

"But nothing Brooke. I appreciate you defending me, I really do, but I don't want Lucas to be estranged from his brother. I don't want more estranged siblings in this world, and I don't want that for them." Pain was etched in every centimeter of Haley's face, as if someone were taking a hacking saw to her with every word she spoke.

Brooke sighed, and tried to compose herself from the fight she had started, and the long screaming match she had been prepared to have with Lucas. But she could tell by the pain that was visible in her best friends face that she hadn't had time to prepare herself to be in her former best friend's presence. She walked over to her, and Haley immediately rested her forehead on Brooke's shoulder, trying to compose herself.

Nathan watched this interaction from a few yards away. He used to be the one to comfort her when she was upset. She would walk right into his arms and snuggle her head into the crook where his arm met his shoulder. But those times she wouldn't cry. She very rarely ever cried, she was too strong a person to cry. But in the last two years he could always see the aftermath of tears somewhere in her features, if only a small glint of pain in her large brown eyes. But if this had been when they were still friends, and he was he one comforting her, she wouldn't of been crying. She wouldn't feel that pain right now. They would still be best friends like they had been their whole lives before that night two years before.

He could feel the muscles around his heart tighten as he thought of that. The pain that had been evident to him in her eyes all this time was because of him. He was the cause of all of her hurt and confusion. Brooke was right. He caused Haley to hurt like that, he didn't deserve having friends, he didn't deserve basketball. He didn't deserve any form of happiness when he had turned Haley, the strongest and most amazing person in the world, pain. He simply wanted to run to her and hold her and make the tears and pain go away, but e didn't deserve that either.

"Hales, how long were you standing there?" Brooke asked of the broken nest friend she held in her arms.

"From when you started yelling at Lucas. I was walking around trying to clear my head when I saw you pull up here." She told her thickly. She had lied though. She was trying to clear her head, but she had come to this spot for a reason. She wasn't quite sure what that reason was, but for some reason, her feet had taken her here, to her childhood hang-out, where she had spent so much time hanging out with Lucas, Brooke, Peyton, Jake, and … and Nathan. Peyton and Brooke would sit and watch as Haley attempted to play with the boys, while everyone laughed at her. She would always be on the same team as Nathan, so they would win anyways, but it was never on account of her. If anything she lowered their chances of winning a good fifty percent; but Nathan always insisted she be on his team. She smiled a ghost of a smile for a moment, then it disappeared just like the last one had.

She looked up and was met with a set of deep navy blue eyes that she would be able to pick out of a crowed with ease. The regret, pain, sympathy, love, and caring in his eyes startled her. She could always recognize his emotions easier than he even could, and she feared that he could read her mind at this moment, while she was feeling more regret and love than she had felt toward him in the past two years combined. But before she could bring herself to tell if confusion crossed his eyes, he looked away and took off towards his large SUV.

Peyton Sawyer sat on the large wood picnic table she had sat in while she was younger, and watched as a fight between Lucas and Brooke turned into Brooke ranting about Nathan, to Brooke comforting Haley, to Haley and Nathan locking eyes in a way that none of them had seen since freshman year. Not many people saw it, but Peyton did. 'Sorry.' The way Nathan's lips had curled softly right before he walked away. She couldn't ever remember Nathan looking that sad in his life, with the exception of the first day that Haley had completely blew him off at school. But when her eyes landed on Jake, her boyfriend, she knew that he saw it too; the way Nathan had completely lost it, and the way his eyes shown glossier than if they were simply watering. They had just witnessed Nathan Scott crying, and that was a scene that none of them ever wished to see ever again. Seeing Nathan cry was like the first time they had seen Haley cry in freshman year.

_flashback_

_Haley sat in the cafeteria waiting for her friends to arrive. It was the first time since she had called Brooke on Saturday night that her new best friend had left her side. She had been summoned into Principal Turner's office for a reason unbeknownst to Haley, but she was waiting silently when Peyton stumbled into the seat across from her, grumbling about how Brooke had ordered new cheerleading uniforms with even shorter skirts than the present ones., but when she saw the utterly defeated expression of one of her closest friends, she stopped complaining, and went into mother-hen mode._

"_Haley, are you alright honey?" Haley nodded her head, not even looking up from her plate of Tree-Hill-High-lunch-surprises. Just the way that her hair lay limply when she nodded, Peyton could tell that something was deathly wrong, Haley was normally as perky and bubbly as Brooke; but this side of her resembled Peyton's form of silent brooding. "Haley, you know if you want to talk to someone, you can always talk to me, right?" Haley nodded again, this time giving a small, grateful smile to her friend. She would of questioned her more, but at this point, Jake and Lucas had arrived and the arrival of her boyfriend pulled her away from Haley's problems._

_For awhile, Peyton was dragged from everything else around her by her own happiness, but when Nathan arrived, Lucas, Jake, Peyton, and a recently added Brooke, broke from their conversations to give him a look that seemed to radiate questioning and anger. None of them had ever seen Haley so broken in the 6 plus years they had known her, and if Nathan was the cause, then he wasn't going to be welcomed back with open arms. When Nathan had taken his normal seat next to Haley, he leant closer to her, and whisper in her ear, praying for forgiveness._

"_Haley, I'm so sorry, please, I need you Hales." His voice was soft but strong, as if he had rehearsed them many times in his head, which he probably had. But the only answer he got from her was a shake of the head, not even a glance from behind the curtain of hair she had shielding her face as she moved food around her face. _

_That's when everyone froze. No one was sure what to make of the situation. No one knew what had happened; no one even knew what was happening in the present. But what was very clear were the small drops of water falling into Haley's food. They seemed to reflect the sun and the reddish-brown color of her hair, and fell into the orange mush the school called macaroni with an almost inaudible 'humph'. Even when they were younger, and would ride around on their bikes and clumsy-Haley would fall off of hers, she never cried, the only people present that had ever seen her cry were Nathan and Brooke, and Brooke had only seen it over the weekend as she attempted to comfort her pain._

_Everyone looked from Haley to Nathan in confusion, wondering what he had done to possibly make, strong, independent Haley James cry. When Nathan finally realized through her curtain of hair that tears were falling; he froze for a moment, hoping that everything that had happened in the past few days had been a really bad nightmare, and he would wake up soon. But he didn't wake up, and he could feel the emotion filling his eyes with unshed tears, so he got up from the table and left the cafeteria without looking back, hoping that if he went outside and walked into a wall, he would wake up in his large bed with Haley beside him sleeping soundly._

_end Flashback

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**A.N: This is the chapter I promised to post earlier. P;ease don't be mad about it taking me so long, because I'm writing this story as I go. I really don't have a story outline, I basically sit down and start writing and wherever it takes me, is where I take the story. I do have certain points in future chapters written, but not full chapters, just certain scenes.**

**I got one review from my last chapter asking if I was the author of 'Meant To Be?' rewriting my story, and I am just here saying that my story is in no way affiliated with that of 'Meant To Be?' even though there are certain parts that are similar. I promise that it will be loads different that 'Meant To Be?' and that I'll try to update, and not leave you hanging like the author of that story has left us all hanging (no offense to the author, but I am a reader of that story, and I am just as anxious as other readers to know what happens next). And I hope that once you all have read this chapter and noticed that Peyton is in my story, and completely involved with Jake, the thought that Nathan and Peyton slept together (like in 'MTB?') is not the way I am headed with this story. I actually gave a very subtle hint to the 'secret' in this chapter, and I think that you'd have to be very thorough, and completely understand the tone of the characters to pick up on it. But it is still in there for those of you that have a lot of time. **

**Tomorrow I have a doctors appointment I think, so I probably won't be able to update twice tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to at least get one chapter up tomorrow, but I'm not going to make promises; I'm sorry. I'm going to try to get one more chapter out of my tired brain tonight before I go to sleep, but again, I'm not going to promise anything because I know that I'll be watching OTH and CSI:NY tonight, and I am already practically falling asleep. **

**Review Please!**

**Keira**

**P.S. OMG! I just saw the preview for OTH tonight, and I kinda find Pathan disgusting, so I actually screamed out loud when I saw Nathan practically hitting on Peyton! EEEWWWW!! (But then again, Mark put Lucas and Peyton together, and I'm not a huge fan of that either…) I am a solid Naley/Brucas/Jeyton shipper! Remember that while reading this!!**

**P.P.S. I am completely honored by ALL of my reviews! Thank you guys so much! I can't tell you how cool it is to get positive reviews from people that I've read their stories! That is so awesome! I'm not going to say who exactly, but I do recommend all of my stories on my Favorites list! Every single one of those stories passed my careful inspection! LOL. I am completely kidding! But if you don't have anything to do, I recommend those stories!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary:** Haley and Nathan have been best friends their whole lives because of the attachment that their parents have. Before they could even remember their parents had been planning their spring wedding (with lots of sunflowers and bright colors). But it seems that ever since something that happened in their freshman year, the connection they once shared had vanished. No one other than the two of them ever knew what exactly happened to the two inseparable friends, but what exactly will happen when they're forced back together because of their conniving parents?

_

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_

_The things you do should be a crime  
you're queen of superficiality  
Keep your lies out of my reality  
and when you're nice it's a pose  
You're one of those,_

_Haters_

**-Hilary Duff**

**Chapter five:** Friendsare the best accessory

**A week later…**

"Haley, you know I love you right?"

Haley was scared. That sickeningly sweet voice coming from Brooke Davis was only ever heard when Brooke wanted something. "Suuuure."

"Okay good; because I have a list of the things that we're going to do today." Haley nodded as her consent for Brooke to continue. "First, we're going to go to the mall, because you're about to spend the summer in California with your former best friend who happens to be a totally hot guy and lots and lots of totally sexy surfer guys. Secondly we're going to talk to your parents about me tagging along on this little family outing, because, frankly, I'd kill myself if I had to spend the whole summer by myself; and with both you and Lucas going on this trip thing, I would be completely alone. And thirdly, we are going to go to Teresa's beginning of summer party, and have a blast!" She gave a weird kind of giddy squeal, and clapped her hands.

Haley was amazed. She hadn't even thought of inviting Brooke. She had simply complained constantly about spending (another) summer alone with Nathan Scott. The only difference between this time and the last time was that they weren't friends anymore. "Oh Brookie!! That's perfect! We'll have so much fun going to the beach together everyday! Oh My God! I'm going to go talk to my mom right now!" Haley sprang from her bed towards the door, and disappeared from the room.

"I meant after we went shopping Hales!" But Haley didn't turn around or even acknowledge what Brooke had said.

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**A few hours later…**

"So how exactly did you convince Lydia to let me go all the way to California with you guys?" They were strolling through one of the many small boutiques in the Charlotte mall. Haley chuckled slightly as she pulled out a long orange tube top that had a small orange rope that wrapped around the neck, so technically it was a halter. She held it up in the air in front of her and turned her head to the side to examine it.

"I kinda lied about something."

Brooke giggled, trying to imagine the lie Haley told. "What did you say?"

"I told her that if Lucas was there then Nathan and I wouldn't have alone time to get back to being friends, which was, of course, the purpose of this trip. So I said that if you were there, you would keep Lucas busy some of the time. She'll be really mad at me when she realizes that there is no way in hell I'm going to spend any 'alone time' with Nathan Scott; but it's a good illusion for her, and it convinced her to let you come, so I don't feel that guilty. What do you think of this?" She held up the shirt in her hand to a laughing Brooke.

"It's perfect; go try it on with this." She held out a dark denim mini skirt and pushed her towards the fitting room curtain.

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**Later that night…**

"Tutor Girl! Get your ass out of the car! You look hot!" Brooke whined as she knocked on the passenger side door of her own car. Haley had locked herself in Brooke's car because she was so self conscious about what Brooke had forced her to buy at the mall earlier that day.

"I am not opening this door until you agree to let me either wear a jacket, or take me home to change." She had stolen the keys and locked herself in the car the moment Brooke had stepped her foot out of the car. But after that last statement was when she saw her. The girl that had ruined her friendship with her best friend. She was shamelessly flirting with Lucas, but he was completely blowing her off. _Brooke's lucky_ she thought bitterly as she opened the door, and headed toward the house, past a stunned Brooke, who simply followed her.

"I need a drink," were the only words she spoke as she tried to find her way around Teresa's packed house to the kitchen. She hadn't drank since that night more than two years before, but seeing _her_ again seemed a good enough time as any to start again.

When she finally had a red plastic cup full to the brim with a clear liquid that she only knew to be sprite and vodka, but to the rest of the world could easily be passed as the former. She easily found Brooke in the corner of the room wrapped around Lucas. She found her way over to them, and tapped on her on the shoulder.

There was a sound like a plunger, and Brooke turned her attention to her best friend, rolling her eyes. She grabbed the cup that Haley held and took a swig from it. Her eyes widened as she swallowed. "Wow! Baby James is drinking!"

"I have my reasons." She stated bitterly, stealing her cup back, and turning to mingle with some of her other friends, because obviously Brooke was preoccupied. When she stole a glance back to the corner, she saw that Brooke and Lucas were both sucking face again. She rolled her eyes and headed over to talk to Bevin.

"Hey Bev" She said to one of her fellow cheerleaders.

"Hey Haley. Haha! That rimes!" It took her a moment to stop laughing, but she recovered and clutched the arm of the guys standing beside her. "Hales, do you know Skills?"

"Naw. But I do now. It's nice to meet you." She extended her hand to Skills and he took it and shook it a few times.

"Yeah. And this is Mouth." He gestured to a guy standing next to him that Haley did know.

"Yeah, I know him. What's up Mouth?"

"Nothing to complain about, you?"

Haley opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by a familiar voice coming up from behind her. "She's going to be great after tonight." Brooke said as she put her arm around her friend's shoulder and pulled her away.

"Brooke! What the hell?" Haley finally got out as she shrugged off Brookes guiding arm.

"Haley, meet Chris. Chris, this is Haley. She's into all that music stuff too." Brooke rolled her eyes and headed back towards her boyfriend.

Chris smirked at her, and she immediately felt fear engulf her. "Look, Chris. You're probably a great guy, really, but I don't want a date, or a screw, whichever one you're looking for, I'm not interested." She started to walk away, but was stopped dead in her tracks by his soft chuckle. She whipped back around and gave him a death glare. "What exactly is so funny?" She asked venomously.

"Nothing." She gave him another glare, and he chuckled again. "It's just that you make really off assumptions of people. I was talking to that girl about music, and she got annoyed with me, so she brought you over here so that my feelings wouldn't be hurt."

Haley blushed crimson, and walked back towards the counter he was leaning against. "I'm sorry." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes to re-group her anger and embarrassment at being pushed into spending time with this guy and then making a fool of herself. "If you knew Brooke, you would've made the same assumption as me. She once told me that I needed to get laid as a reward for getting a good grade on an exam." They both had a good laugh and continued talking like good friends.

That is until she saw them. The two people that could invoke so much pain and anger in her that she could start a forest fire with one glance. They were talking like old friends that hadn't talked in awhile. And to tell the truth, if she hadn't caught them that night, she would probably be standing right next to them, laughing at whatever joke they were now laughing about. Without thinking properly she downed her third glass of her own concoction and poured another while still keeping her eyes locked on them.

"And Michelle Branch was kind of a dirty whore. She kept coming on to me, but I kept telling her that I didn't want to sleep with her, but she wouldn't take no for an answer, so one night, I just…" He was cut off from his rambling about his tour with the Wreckers by something that not one of the three people involved had expected. Haley had leant over and kissed Chris Keller square on the lips.

_Why that hell did I just do that? Oh yeah! He wouldn't shut the hell up! Seriously! I don't want to know about his stupid tour! In the beginning it was interesting to talk to someone who loved music as much as I do; but after the first half hour that he was talking about the tour, it got really annoying. _Haley thought, annoyed at Chris Keller, but even more annoyed that he had now stuck his tongue into his mouth.

Nathan stood shocked at the girl he was in love with make out with some rat-faced punk. He could feel the hot anger spread across his body, and his heart break in two eight there in the middle of Teresa's living room. His body clenched, and he could feel two sets of eyes on him. One coming from the corner of the living room, that just happened to be Brooke, turning from Haley to him as if she were watching a tennis match.

And the second set coming from the girl he couldn't take his eyes off of. She was staring right back at him, blue eyes burning into brown, her wishing that the eyes she was looking into were attached to the lips she was kissing…

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**A.N: This chapter was more of a transition chapter. I wanted to show that Nathan didn't just not care about Haley. I'm working on the revealing of the betrayal and I'm pretty sure that it will be revealed in chapter 7… That's how I feel it's going as of now. I should have the next chapter up sometime tonight… probably…**

**Keira**

**Read & Review please!**

**P.S. I'm glad that Peyton isn't a whore. I would of stopped watching OTH if Nathan started cheating on Haley. But when I actually saw the episode, Nathan wasn't really 'flirting' with Peyton, he was basically just reminiscing, and that's okay. But still, I don't like what she told him about putting himself first. He's gonna have a kid in a few months, and his child should always come first. Not to mention that true LOVE means that you would give your life for them, so Haley should come first to him, and Nathan should come first to Haley… That's just how it SHOULD be.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I LOVE my reviewers! You guys rox mii invisible sox!!! Here is another chapter dedicated to you AWESOME reviewers!**

**

* * *

**

**Summary:** Haley and Nathan have been best friends their whole lives because of the attachment that their parents have. Before they could even remember their parents had been planning their spring wedding (with lots of sunflowers and bright colors). But it seems that ever since something that happened in their freshman year, the connection they once shared had vanished. No one other than the two of them ever knew what exactly happened to the two inseparable friends, but what exactly will happen when they're forced back together because of their conniving parents?

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_2 AM and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake,  
"Can you help me unravel my latest mistake?,  
I don't love him. Winter just wasn't my season"  
Yeah we walk through the doors, so accusing their eyes  
Like they have any right at all to criticize,  
Hypocrites. You're all here for the very same reason_

**-Anna Nalick**

**Chapter six:** Parties are the best places to make a scene…

Haley pulled away, ripping her eyes from Nathan's, and turning away towards her best friend, whose eyes connected with hers automatically. "Caw." She mouthed the words softly, but she knew that both Nathan and Brooke saw their old safety word; the one that any of them would say when they wanted to leave a party.

_I can't believe she just made out with some guy in the middle of a party, right in front of me, and then she wants me to save her, _Nathan thought bitterly as he watched Brooke make an excuse for Haley to leave.

"Haley! We have to go right now!" Brooke said in a staged panic.

"I don't think so." Chris said possessively as he grabbed hold of Haley's arm. You could see the fear in Haley's eyes, and Nathan picked up on it immediately.

"Listen, Music Guy. I have to take her home to see her boyfriend, okay." Brooke said as she took hold of Haley's other arm and pulled her toward her.

"Well I think that her boyfriend would like to know that she just kissed me." Chris said bitterly as he pulled Haley back towards him.

Haley tried to yank her arm out of his grasp, but her efforts were fruitless. "I only kissed you because you wouldn't shut the hell up!" She said angrily as she once again tried to release herself from his grasp.

Nathan couldn't take it anymore, so he detangled himself from the nameless blonde girl who had been hitting on him, and headed towards the scene that was playing out. "Hales, what's wrong here?"

Her eyes widened, but she knew exactly what he was doing, so she played along as best she knew how. "This ass hole won't let go of me." She said, once again trying to gain control of her arm.

"Dude, what are you doing? Let go of her." Nathan said innocently to Chris.

"Who the hell are you?" Chris asked, puzzled.

"I'm her boyfriend." There was a collective gasp from the spectators that had gathered. After all, this was a scene that involved Haley James and Nathan Scott, two of the most popular incoming seniors at Tree Hill High, if this story was still around when school started back up, everyone wanted to be able to say that they had witnessed it.

"Well you must not be that great of a boyfriend, because she just totally made out with me."

"I did not! I kissed you to shut you up, and then you stuck your scratchy ass tongue in my mouth!" Haley yelled at the man that still had a firm grip on her. There were a few stifled laughs, and Haley smirked at her choice of words, then she turned to Nathan. "I'm so sorry babe, but he was being so annoying." She rolled her eyes and gave him the puppy-dog eyes.

"Aw, Hales, it's okay." He pushed a stray hair behind her ear and looked into her eyes longingly. He could see the laugh begging to escape her mouth, and the amusement dancing in her eyes. "I know you can use your sexiness for your advantage. It's okay."

He stared back into her eyes for a few more minutes, and he could see that it was killing her not to laugh hysterically. The smile on her lips was so big that her teeth were bared fully, and the whiteness of her smile was blinding; but Nathan's insides were jumping at seeing that smile again.

Brooke stood stock still, just watching as Nathan and Haley flirted shamelessly in front of almost everyone they went to school with. Of course it was just an act for that annoying Keller guy that still hadn't let go of Haley's right arm, but it was still touching to see these two ex-best friends actually cohabitating peacefully for a few moments. She couldn't help but have a smile a full dimpled smile spread across her soft features.

"Thanks Nate. You know you're really hot when you're trying not to be jealous." He smirked, trying not to burst out laughing. She was flirting! He couldn't believe it. After not talking to him directly for about two years, she was flirting with him in front of almost all of their peers.

"Well, I'm still hotter than him" he gestured towards Chris "so I don't really have a reason to be jealous." He moved closer to her, asking her permission to do what he was thinking. They might as well start some interesting rumors if they were going to get started anyway.

She lay her free hand on Nathan's cheek and stage whispered. "Damn straight." He leant down to be closer to her height, and let her give a small giggle before capturing his lips with hers.

_NO! They did NOT just do that! _Brooke thought, disbelief written all over her face. There were more gasps, and even more whispers broke out all around them.

Nathan's lips hit hers hungrily. She felt the shock waves roll through her stomach, and she just let it happen. If she moved away, then Chris Keller would think she was fair game; and that would be disgusting. She'd rather kiss Nathan until she fainted than EVER kiss Chris Keller again. So she let her lips part, and she plunged his tongue into his mouth, soaking in the wonderful sensations that shot through her body.

_Okay, so I know that she hates me, I know that what I did is unforgivable; but DAMN this feels good._ Nathan pulled Haley closer, putting his hands on the back of her head to intensify what was already the most sensual moment of either of their lives.

Haley slowed down the kiss, knowing that soon she would need air, or she really would faint from kissing him for so long. She slowly disconnected their lips, and backed away from his arms, which were not even nearly as harsh as Chris' had been… When they were on her. He seemed to had disappeared sometime during the kiss that seemed to of lasted eternity.

When it slowly dawned on her exactly what had just taken place, she looked up into the questioning, and worried eyes of none other than Nathan Scott. The one person that could confuse her more than any other. Her eyes widened, and she did the only thing she could think of to do. She ran. She ran as fast as is possible in four inch orange pumps, and pushed her hair out of her face harshly.

She pulled the door to Brooke's car open angrily and fell into her seat, sobbing into her knees.

Suddenly, the car started to vibrate slightly, and she knew that Brook was taking her home. "What did I do Brooke? He hurt me so bad, but it felt so good at the same time. How can you feel so many emotions about one simple thing?" She still hadn't removed her head from her knees, but she kept pushing her hair out from in front of her. The feeling of kissing Nathan Scott kept replaying itself in her head, and she couldn't shake the feeling that she wanted to do it again.

Finally Brooke spoke, with a slight emotion to her voice that Haley couldn't quite place to any particular feeling ."I haven't seen you that happy in a long time Hales."

Haley's head snapped up. She was shocked by her friend's interpretation of happiness, but before she could comment, Brooke had already read her mind, and stopped her from talking. "I don't mean after. I meant while you were flirting with him." Haley was about to cut her off, but once again, Brooke telepathy won out over speech. "Don't tell me it was just to put on a show. I know you better than that. If I was the one in your place, you would say the same thing to me, so don't give me any crap. I saw how you looked at him. It was like nothing ever happened between you two. It was like the first day of freshman year all over again, except that you actually admitted that you liked each other." She took a deep sigh before continuing. "It scared me Hales." She paused, as if she were contemplating whether she should say what she wanted to. "I don't want you to get hurt again. I love you too much to see you go through that again. But at the same time, I want to tell you to go crawl into his bed instead of mine." Hales gave her a disgusted look, and Brooke realized her mistake as soon as she saw the hurt written on her friends features. "Don't look at me like that. I meant that you guys should have never stopped being friends, and you know it. I don't know what happened between you two, but whatever it was, it couldn't have been bad enough to throw away a bond like you two have; or had." She sighed again, and looked quickly at her friend again before turning back to the road. "I love you to death Hales. That's why I'm telling you this. I don't want you to get hurt again, but I also don't want to see that pain that I see everyday in your eyes, when it could have been taken away by sucking up your pride."

Haley was shocked into silence. The only other time that had happened was the night that she caught Nathan… Well, you get the point. The two friends sat in silence for a while before Haley sucked up (part) of her pride, and spoke first. "Brooke, if you knew the whole story, then you wouldn't forgive him easy either." Brooke turned to Haley, and was about to say something when Haley cut her off. "Don't ask me to tell you. It hurts my already wounded pride way too much." She gave a bitter laugh, and continued. "And you better not say something about it being two years. I know precisely how long it has been. If you give me a minute I could tell you precisely how many days. But I know I need to forgive him. And I know he didn't intentionally hurt me. But that doesn't make the pain stop. It might just make it hurt more, because I thought that he never would, and he did." She shot another glance at Brooke, and shook her head. "I know that makes no sense." They both shared a laugh before the car went silence again.

After another few minutes in absolute silence, Brooke spoke again. "You know, you'll always be my best friend Hales."

"And you'll always be mine. We have ESP, there's no way I would ever be able to cut you out." She laughed, but stopped when she realized that Brooke wasn't.

"But you did with Nathan." There was absolute silence as they pulled into the James' driveway where a black SUV was waiting patiently for them.

Haley smiled at Brooke wryly, and opened the door to the cold summer night. "Yeah, but I loved him a completely different way than I love you Brooke." Brooke smiled widely at her friend's admission. "Sorry Brooke, but I don't bat for that team." Brooke broke out into a fit of laughter as she watched Haley walk over to the black SUV and knock on the driver-side window.

* * *

**A.N: I love this chapter. I love the Baley friendship so much! And I love Naley even more! This chapter was just so cool to work with!**

**I am SO sorry. I originally had this chapter and the next one as one chapter. Actually when I first sat down to write the last chapter, there was no Chris, meaning that this chapter didn't happen. But when I sat down to write, it came out, and it was longer than I thought, so now all the chapters are being pushed back. Meaning that the 'betrayal' will now be in chapter 8 (hopefully). I will promise to have it exposed by the eleventh chapter! I PROMISE! I feel so bad about chickening out on the promise that I made in the last chapter's AN, but I really didn't mean for this to go like this. I just sit down and start writing, and it comes out with what it does. The only exceptions I make are when it clashes directly with the plot or the few plans I actually have for this story, which there are very few. This story is planned to be about fifteen chapters total, then I am going to focus my efforts on The Clique, which I see being a little longer.**

**Again, please don't hate me && AGAIN please pretty pretty pretty please REVIEW!!**

**Keira**

**P.S. Three guesses who's in the SUV… **

**P.P.S. I'm probably going to start on the next chapter in a few minutes, but I doubt that I'll have it up tonight, because, frankly I am tired as hell. I'm trying to plan how I want the next chapter to go as I write this, and I'm hoping that I can get what I want into it. I'm not going to drop more spoilers, because that will just piss people off when it doesn't come out immediately! SORRY! I hope that I can update this weekend, but I don't know because my mom is coming down to visit my grandma and I, so I don't know how much time I'll have this weekend, but, if I don't, I'll see you all on Monday!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I couldn't think of a song, or chapter title for this chapter, because, frankly, I think it sucks. I wish it wasn't like this, but it is. It's a transition, and a sucky transition at that. Sorry for the long wait, and I assure you it wasn't worth it, because this chapter sucks, I wish I didn't have to say that about my own story, but I had to have this transition so that I could get to the good stuff in the next couple chapters… Again, sorry for the wait.

* * *

**

**Chapter seven:**

Haley walked slowly, but surely towards the familiar car. She knew exactly who it belonged to; and you probably do too. She knocked on the dark tinted window, and waited for the occupant to lower it, or get out of the car. He did the former. "Why are you sitting out here? I never took away your key."

He chuckled, and showed her the house key attached to his key ring. "I thought that would be kinda scary for you to come home and find someone in your house." He sighed, and looked away from her, towards the house. "And besides, I'm not exactly the most welcome person in your house." He looked scared. And that was what really convinced her to say what she said next.

"You can come in Nathan." She told him softly and walked off towards her front door, slipping the keys out of her coat pocket as she heard the heavy door of the SUV slam shut. He came up behind her as she opened the door, and slipped inside, leaving the door open behind her for him to come in and close the door behind him.

She headed towards the kitchen, but before she entered the swinging door, she heard him mutter something. "It's like a freaking time capsule in here."

She laughed as she slipped off her shoes in the kitchen, and headed towards the fridge. "Funny. That's what I thought about the computer room in your house." He laughed and headed towards the cabinet, knowing full well what she was getting to eat.

He placed the bowls on the island, and sat in one of the stools as she turned and placed the whipped cream and caramel on the table. "Do you still put Pop Rocks in it?" She smirked as she turned from the freezer holding a gallon of vanilla ice cream. She placed the tub on the counter, and went to the cabinet above the cutlery drawer, and pulled out a large box that held different colored pouches in it. She turned around holding two of the colored pouches. She placed one in front of him and proceeded to dish out the ice cream into the two bowls he had already taken out. "Wow. I'm honored; you actually gave me the red Pop Rocks."

She laughed. "Don't be too honored, I switched my favorite to the blue about six months ago." He gave a fake hurt expression.

"Ouch. That hurt Hales. Right here." He patted the spot on his blue polo right above his heart. She gave a small chuckle, and shook her head as she handed him his bowl. He took it, and poured the red crystals over the ice cream and mixed it together until it was almost a milk shake.

"Look" she started, but wavered, not sure if she was ready to open this can of worms yet. "I need to ask you to do me a favor." She hadn't looked up, she was just mixing the whipped cream into her ice cream; but when she did look up into his eyes, he was staring at her. He nodded his head for her to continue, and she did. "I was wondering if we could pretend to be friends. For Brooke and Lucas. And for our parents." He looked beyond wary, but also a little hopeful. "I'm not ready to forgive you. I don't know if I ever will." She told him hastily, she didn't want him to get the wrong idea from this arrangement "But I feel bad that this has affected our friends. And my parents just annoy me when they actually choose to be around; so I want to fake them out. They won't know the difference, they don't care enough. They want us to get married and have perfect little Stepford babies, and I'll admit that scares the shit out of me." He laughed.

"Does having kids with me really sicken you that much?" He asked with a sarcastic laugh.

"No, but that's the problem. A kid really would look cute with your eyes and my hair." She said completely seriously, and locked eyes with him over the counter. She couldn't help but notice that his eyes had gotten more than a few shades darker over the past few years. They used to be a deep sea blue, but now they were navy, almost black.

He cleared his throat after their eye contact broke. "I think we can do that." He said simply. Her eyes went wide and questioning. He started laughing at her expression. "No, I meant about the being friends for our friends thing. Not the kid thing." She laughed along with him when she realized that she had overreacted yet again that night.

"Thank you Nathan." She said simply as she went back to eating her ice cream.

"I don't know how you can eat these almost every night and not weigh a thousand pounds." He said off-handedly. She scoffed, and laughed along with him.

* * *

**The next week…**

"Where are they, they should have been here a half hour ago." Nathan whined as he stood in front of his car, constantly shooting a basketball through the hoop on his driveway.

"Calm down Nate. This is Brooke we're talking about. She'll probably be another hour, so don't have a coronary yet." Lucas said from under the hoop as he threw the ball back to Nathan.

"Yeah, but Haley is never late."

"I know, that's why I say that they'll only be another hour." Nathan gave a chuckle at his brother's view of his own girlfriend, and tossed the ball back through the hoop.

"That's so friggen annoying man."

"Not when you reap the benefits too." Lucas gave a suggestive smirk, and walked towards his brother, dribbling the ball expertly. He checked the ball, and then shot it right over Nathan's head into the net for a three.

"For that, boyfriend, you are so going to get the benefits!" Brooke squealed as she jumped out of her car wearing a light denim mini and a midriff bearing singlet. She bounded up to her boyfriend and threw herself into his awaiting arms.

Haley rolled her eyes, and then looked over at her friend. Then rolled her eyes again. She was dressed almost identically to Brooke, except for the shirt she wore was a gray-blue, and she was very uncomfortable in the outfit. She kept pulling at the bottom of the shirt, hoping that it would magically grow three inches, but of course it was fruitless. She stood close to Brooke's small car, trying to look at anything other than Nathan or her best friend sucking face with her boyfriend. She finally just rolled her eyes again and turned to the boot of the car and started to unload the two girls' many suitcases.

Nathan rolled his eyes along with Haley, and turned towards her. She was grabbing suitcases from the back seats and trunk of the car. But while Haley was bent into the trunk of the car, Nathan noticed something he hadn't seen in years. "Haley," She turned back towards him with a questioning glance. "You never got it removed?"

She followed his eyes to her backside. "Um, no. Why would I get my ass remo—oh." She stopped talking and continued to pull suitcases from the car, not wanting to talk about what he was. She knew her face was scarlet, and she particularly didn't want him to see how flustered he could make her with one simple question.

Nathan's heart was pounding out of his chest. He could feel the pressure against his skin, and the sweat forming on his forehead. He thought for sure that after all this time of hating him, she would have gotten the tattoo of his jersey number removed from the small of her back.

"Wait." Haley quickly turned around, and hit roughly into Nathan's hard chest. Her eyes were set firmly on his, and didn't waver at their proximity. "How did you even know about it before now? I never showed you." She was angry. She had gotten that tattoo the day before her fifteenth birthday. The day before Nathan had betrayed her trust. Or at least the day before she _found out_ that he had betrayed her trust.

"I knew the day you got it Hales. You weren't very discrete in hiding it." He chuckled a little at her indignation about him knowing about her tattoo. She pouted slightly, and crossed her arms over her chest as Lucas and Brooke attempted to join in their conversation like they hadn't missed anything. "You were in your cheerleading uniform that day. It wasn't like I stripped you to find it… Although I did see it again…"

He was interrupted by Haley clearing her throat loudly at his slip. She shot daggers through her eyes, and grabbed suitcases, throwing them into the back of Nathan's big SUV. He smiled again at her anger. They hadn't had that friendly banter in forever.

"Okay, can we get on the road already? The parentals are going to think we're up to something if we're too much later behind them." Surprisingly it was Brooke who spoke those words. All of her companions were put into shock by Brooke's sudden urge to be prompt. "What? I don't want them thinking that we're getting it on in the back of the car!" Haley coughed madly as she choked on her laugh, trying not to get any mental pictures that had suddenly stuck into her mind.

"Brooke, I am sitting in the back with you. I REALLY don't want to be looking in the rear-view mirror every five minutes to see if you're actually doing that." She shivered involuntary, and suppressed a shudder as she saw the disappointment in Lucas' eyes.

The four teenagers pilled into the car, and were half way to the highway when Brooke spoke. "Wait, how far away is Clifornia?"

Haley gave her a dumb-struck look, and tried not to sound condescending when answering. "It's the big state on the other side of the country Brooke. You know, the one with earthquakes all the time?" So much for not sounding condescending. Nathan muffled a snort in the drivers seat, and adjusted his wait, trying to make it so he couldn't see the Bevin-like expression on Brooke's face.

"I know that! I meant how long to get there!" She rolled her eyes and tried to face Haley better on the back seat.

"Oh! Thank God!" Haley breathed a sigh of relief that she had understood the question wrong, because even though the thought of Brooke being dumb enough to not know where California was, was hilarious, it was also kind of frightening. "It's about thirteen hours, more or less."

"Haley, can you switch seats with Lucas so we can have road trip sex? I know I'm going to get bored!"

"NO!" Came both Nathan and Haley's yells of disgust.

**A few hours, and a few fights later… Actually… 14 hours, twenty four minutes, and fourteen seconds later… Haley had counted it…

* * *

**

"Oh thank God! If I didn't get out of that friggen car soon I would have killed Brooke!" Haley yelled enthusiastically, finally being able to use her full voice when not in the confines of the car. She kicked her legs around her, and jumped up and down, trying to relinquish the tingling feeling she was feeling through her body because of the lack-of-use her muscles were suffering from.

She ran up the steps to the large white house enthusiastically, dragging Brooke along beside her, wrenching the door open to her already liquored-up parents playing a rather disturbing game of naughty-charades. Haley cringed, and ran up the stairs, trying to find the room she had had the last time she had been here.

She finally wrenched open the door of the room furthest down the hall, and visibly cringed at the memories that filled her mind at the sight. Brooke looked at her concernedly, wondering what had suddenly stolen the excitement from her friends face, but the only expination she received was five words. "You can have this room."

Brooke just shrugged, noticing the pictures of Nathan and Haley scattered around the room that all seemed to be taken before freshman year; which made absolute sense, because they hadn't been there since then… But one picture in particular caught Brooke's eye. It was resting on the nightstand beside the bed in plain, thin, red fabric frame. In the picture, Nathan and Haley were snuggled together in bed, and Nathan wasn't wearing a shirt, and it was hard to tell, but it didn't look like Haley was either. Brooke just smirked and opened the side drawer absent-mindedly.

Her eyes bugged out of her head at the site that met her. "What is it Brooke?" Haley came over to her friend and nearly fainted with shock at all the _condoms_ that were strewn in the drawer. "Ew." Was all she could manage to say before she ran out the door and down the stairs to where her parents were all sitting. "What the hell?" She asked, flabbergasted.

"What are you talking about sweetheart?" Her father slurred from his seat in an armchair.

"I'm talking about the batch of two-hundred condoms that has some how made it's way into my dresser drawer." She yelled, gaining the attention of a red-faced Nathan, and sniggering Lucas and Brooke.

It wasn't your dresser; it was your side-table. And we just want you to be safe. We're not stupid Haley-bub. We know what happened last time. But we're leaving, we're going to be in the house next door. Call if you need anything." Her mother told her giddily as she stumbled from the house on the arm of her husband, with the Scott's at their heels.

"Why are they sleeping in the other house?" Nathan asked hurriedly, trying to distract their friends from the inevitable question.

"I don't know, but I think that more important question is, 'what did you guys do in this house that involves about forty boxes of condoms being necessary?'" Brooke asked, trying to keep a straight face.

* * *

**A.N: I've never tried Pop Rocks in vanilla ice cream, but doesn't it sound good? I think I'll buy some next time I see them… Anyways, this chapter was meant to be a transition to the vacation. I know it kinda sucks. I didn't like it at all while I was writing it. But I also have had writers block, and this was just so that I could give you guys something, and get to the better chapters to come. The next chapter should be up pretty soon though, because I have most of it already written, and it will be a pretty long one (that's if it goes by the plan I have right now). The next chapter (or the one after that) (should) reveal (most) of the secrets that I have been hinting at for awhile now… Yeah, I can't wait for reviews of 'the betrayal'… I swear I should re-name this story to be called The Betrayal, because it seems that I write it a lot in my author's notes when I am referring to that certain event in Nathan/Haley's history…**

**Keira sends her ultimate love; awaiting reviews and trying to make herself feel better because she feels like her chapter sucked… Man, I need to STOP talking in third person… It's kinda creepy…**

**P.S. the return of the mysterious picture in this totally suck chapter. I bet everyone knows what it is by now, especially with one of the HUGE hints I dropped, but I'm going to tell you anyways… either in the next chapter or the one after that. The next two chapters are interchangeable as of now, so I have to decide which one I want to put in next. Both of which hold large flashbacks that I think will be interesting, and that I have been working on since I started writing this story nearly a month ago.**

**P.P.S. I am sorry again about my HUGE delay in updating… I have had a HUGE writers block, but after looking around the fanfiction site, I decided that I didn't want to enrage my readers any further at my lax updating, so I just went for having a sucky chapter. Sorry about that. I hope I don't set you off of the story all together, the next few chapters should be better. I think there will be another five chapters (maybe), and then I'm moving on to the sequel. I'm not so sure about the sequel yet, but I have a few plans for it. When I start to write it out, I'll post a summary to ask if you guys even want one… lol. **

**PPPS. Also, the tattoo… I just love the tattoo… I had to put it in here somewhere… hope it didn't piss people off… I'm pretty sure that I'll probably explain later how/why Haley got the tattoo without Nathan knowing/not wanting him to know…**

**I'll stop talking now and let you people get along with your lives… lots of love**


	8. Chapter 8

_Hey, you're a crazy bitch,  
but you fuck so good I'm on top of it.  
When I dream, I'm doing you all night.  
Scratches all down my back to keep me right on._

_-Buckcherry_

**Chapter eight: **teenage hormones rule!

Haley froze, and when she looked at Nathan from the corner of her eye, she saw that Nathan had too. She chewed softly on her bottom lip, wondering if she should just tell Brooke and get it over with. But her head was telling her to just shut up and walk away.

And that was exactly what she did. She just turned on her heels and walked up the stairs, rolling her eyes so that both Brooke and Lucas could see before she disappeared.

**A week or so later… **Brooke, Lucas, Nathan, and Haley were gathered around the living room, playing different drinking games, their answers becoming more and more humorous as time and alcohol disappeared.

"Come on Tutor-Girl, I know you're not virgin. Who was your first?" Brooke asked from Lucas' lap.

Haley shot a look to Nathan, all tipsy thought vanishing, but all he did was smirk back at her. _Stupid ass. _"I don't know what you're talking about Brooke." Haley denied as she took another swig from the blue plastic cup in her hands.

"Oh don't give me that Baby James." Brooke rolled her eyes, hoping that her best friend would decide to spill her secret; but was sourly disappointed. "Oh come on Hales! That summer before freshman year you came back from vacation with the parentals looking a little too satisfied if you know what I mean. Not to mention the drawer full of condoms in your nightstand upstairs, and that you've been on the pill ever since eighth grade! There are too many signs Tutor Girl!"

"That's not fair. Everyone knows my mother. She forced me to go on the pill in eighth grade because I started going out with that guy. What was his name…"

"Mike." Nathan said bitterly.

"Thank you. When I started dating Mike my mom started forcing that pill down my throat for three months before I finally just got used to it and took it myself."

"Still. That doesn't explain the condoms." Brooke said matter-of-factly.

"Again. My parents are insane! My dad didn't know about the pill thing, and he put them there before we even got here. They weren't there the last time we were here. Right Nate?" She turned to him, knowing that he knew they weren't there in the summer before freshman year.

"Nope."

"Still, you use tampons Hales. I remember when we were in sixth grade and we got our periods for the first time, you said that you weren't sticking anything up there until something else got stuck up there."

Both Lucas and Nathan looked really uncomfortable, but at the same time, looked like they were about to burst out laughing.

Haley blushed a deep shade of scarlet as the memory of her first time, and the fact that Brooke had just voiced her menstrual preference in front of Lucas and Nathan. Her eyes flashed back to Nathan, and he was looking thoroughly amused at her discomfort as he took another sip his own drink. Haley's anger was bubbling at his amusement when this secret was just as much his as it was hers.

"Oh come on Naley-Girl. We don't have all night! Just spill it." Haley couldn't help but think that Brooke wasn't as dumb as she had previously thought.

She let out a long sigh and decided to give a very obvious hint so she didn't have to just come out and say it. "You're forgetting who else was on that vacation." Brooke still looked questioning, she took back her former thought that Brooke wasn't as dumb as she thought, and Nathan still looked amused as she tried to not just come out and say it. Her anger was bubbling over the edge, so she said it, just to spite him. "IT WAS NATHAN!"

Both Nathan and Lucas spit their drinks across the room at her admission; Nathan because he hadn't expected Haley to actually say it, and Lucas because he was just as surprised as the open-mouthed Brooke sitting in his lap.

Haley had her arms crossed below her chest in indignation. "Don't look so surprised, it isn't like we actually hid it!" She remembered the first day she saw her friends after they had gotten back to Tree Hill. She hadn't tried to hide in any way that she had done anything, and she sure as hell didn't hide that it was with Nathan Scott, her best friend at the time.

_Flashback_

_Haley sighed and snuggled deeper into Nathan's chest as they both lay on her bed. "You know, I was wondering how they were going to make this about them." She said spitefully._

"'_Oh Jimmy! We're getting old! Our baby is going into high school! Do I need a face lift?' And that was just your mother! Did you see how many bottles of scotch my mom took out of the liquor cabinet?" Nathan asked sadly as he pulled her deeper into his broad chest._

"_I know. They didn't even notice when we took that bottle of vodka." Haley chuckled bitterly. She knew it was no use trying to get any kind of attention from her parents. The only time either of them received any acknowledgement from them was when it had to do with their sports, or them getting married. Pulling stunts would never get them what they wanted from their parents. And that was just for them to act like they had children. Haley didn't know how her older brothers and sisters had dealt with the shunting; but she knew that the only thing that kept her sane was the boy lying beside her. Nathan was the parent, brother, best friend, and crush all rolled into one amazing person._

"_Where is that? I think I need some of it." His voice was flat and emotionless as he sat up, with Haley following closely behind him. She pushed herself up from the bed and headed for her desk, with Nathan following after her. She moved aside a picture of the two of them the year before in their recreation center uniforms; her in a fire engine red and whit cheerleading uniform, and him in a matching basketball uniform, with his arm slung over her shoulder. She moved the silver frame aside and the large bottle of clear liquid was visible in the shadow of the shelf above it. She grabbed the bottle and took a large swig of it, then held it out to Nathan, who was mere inches away from her. He took it, and took an equally large gulp as she had. He set the bottle on the and then looked at his best friend. She still only a few inches away, just looking back into his eyes, she seemed to be thinking about something as she bit her lower lip softly._

_Before either of them knew what he was doing, he reached down and kissed her firmly on the lips._

_When he realized what exactly he'd just don, his eyes flew open, and he retracted his head from her personal space. "I don't know why I did that." He confessed dumbly, and turned his head to face the large painting of a beach that hung over Haley's bed._

_Haley's mind was reeling; but before she could put any of her feelings into recognizable thought, the had taken the back of Nathan's neck, and brought his lips back down to hers. The kiss started soft and passionate, but soon escalated to hungry. He pulled her by her waist into him, and she slowly backed up until the backs of her knees hit the bed, and she fell backwards onto it as Nathan fell atop her. Their kiss never broke until Nathan let a rational thought cross his mind. He broke the kiss, and breathing heavily, rolled off of her. "What are we doing Hales?"_

_Her breathing was shallow too, and her finger-tips touched her mouth tenderly as her word betrayed her. "I don't know; but it felt good."_

_At her words, only one thing seemed logical to him. In one fluid movement he took a deep, steadying breath, rolled back on top of her, said "yeah", and was kissing her senseless again._

_Haley's hands moved from Nathan's cheeks, to his hair, to the back of his neck, to his hair, just soaking in the thoughts and feelings that were flowing through their bodies. But then Haley let the stupid rational voice in her head invade her lust-clouded mind, and she broke the kiss. "You're right. We shouldn't be doing this." _

_He rolled off of her, unabashed, but still disappointed. He tried unsuccessfully to try and gain his air supply back, but he was too shocked and (oddly) turned on suddenly by his best friend. He had, of course, thought of her in that way more recently, but it was still disconcerting that he felt so strongly about a simple kiss. Okay, it wasn't a 'simple' kiss… it was far from simple. Things in the romantic field between him and Haley would never be simple. They were too gung-hoe about proving their parents wrong about them getting married._

"_Come on Nate, let's get out of here. We can go to the movies or something." Haley sprung up from the bed, grabbing her purse and slipping on a pair of flip-flops. Nathan followed closely behind her, down the hall, out the door, down the boardwalk, and into the nearly deserted movie theater._

_They took seats near the back of the theatre, trying their hardest to focus on the dumb spoof movie that they were trying their hardest to pay attention to. Haley finally just got bored at the lame attempts at jokes, and focused her attention on her best friend. "Okay, so, this doesn't change anything, right?"_

_He just turned to her, confused, and silently asked what she was talking about. She answered him by giving him a fierce kiss, and then breaking it off to ask the question again. "This doesn't change anything, right?" He nodded, taking her cheek in his hand, and bringing her lips to his again._

_They kissed fiercely, exploring each other's mouths with a hunger that amazed both of them. Haley move the seat divider up so that it wasn't in their way, and climbed into his lap, straddling his hip tenderly, careful to tread lightly with the tender situation. Their lips never left each other's except to take deep, ragged breath, and then continue on with what they were doing. _

_Slowly, Haley started to recognize the creeping feeling in the pit of her stomach, that creepy, lust-y feeling she got when she watched especially hot sex scenes on TV or in movies. Except this one was more intense, more real. She could feel that he was feeling the same way; literally… she could FEEL it. She teased him a little, moving her hips in little circles; it could be excused as trying to get comfortable, but she had a prerogative. _

_She finally broke the kiss, and didn't quickly go back to it like she had before. This time, she had to same something. "Nathan." She took another ragged breath, trying to gather exactly how she could state such a question or request. Her breath was coming in shallow gasps, and she didn't seem to know how to continue. How do you ask your guy best friend if he wants to have sex with you? It's not a typical dilemma that they put in the Chicken Soup books. She rolled her hips again, going for a straight forward approach. After all, this was her best friend since diapers, he knew her better than anyone else, if she wasn't straight forward about it, he would see through it to the real question anyways. Might as well just go in for the kill, and hope to not completely ruin their friendship in the process. "Do you want to have sex with me?"_

_She held in short amount of breath that had managed to make its way to her lungs, afraid of what he would say. If he turned her down, then it would ruin the friendship forever because she would feel rejected; but if he said yes, there was a possibility of everything going back to normal in the morning. "Hales…"_

_He didn't finish his sentence though. He didn't know how. Either way he would come out sounding like a jack-ass. If he said yes, he would be saying what he actually wanted, and would loose his virginity to his best friend. But if he said no, because of the prospect of ruining their friendship, he knew she would take it as rejection. _

_He licked his lips nervously, and went with his gut feeling. He pulled her back down into a passionate kiss, letting her know that if she wanted this, it was what she was going to get. She rubbed against him harder, not even bothering to notice that her denim mini-skirt was hiked up around her hips. She pulled her hair back at its middle-part and threw it over her shoulder, lifting herself from her knees, and standing up, pulling Nathan by the lips up with her. They quickly and quietly made their way out of the theater and down the corridors, stopping and kissing every few seconds, just to keep the in their bodies going until they were at their destination. _

_Haley pulled open the bathroom door, pushing Nathan in before her, closing and locking the private bathroom door behind her. When she turned around, she saw him standing there, looking cautious, and waiting for her to make the first move. And she did. She admired him for respecting her like that; not wanting to push her into anything. She felt her heart swell, and couldn't think of one thing she would rather be doing in that moment. _

_She dropped her purse to the floor, and grabbed at the back of his neck, pulling his lips down to meet hers. She moved her body to be flush against his, and that seemed to make him wake from his respect-induce-insecurity. He pushed her firmly against the tiled wall, his hands pressed firmly against her hips, moving slowly up, giving her time to tell him to stop if she wanted him to; but she didn't, she just pulled his body as close to hers as possible._

_She wrapped her left leg around his right and pulled him to push her against the wall being her. His hands felt as if they were teasing her, pushing her shirt upwards, just to touch the soft skin on her lower stomach._

_She was getting a little aggravated that he wasn't trying to take it further when she was the one who initiated it in the first place. She finally just got fed-up with the whole lack-of-situation and started to pull at the hem of his shirt demandingly. It seemed that that was all he needed, because he pulled her shirt further up her body, both of them separating at the same time, their shirts becoming tangled, but they didn't care, they just threw them aside, clutching to the others skin with something almost like fear; like if they let go for more than a second, then the other would disappear, and they'd never see each other again._

_Soon, they were both pushed firmly against the tiles of the bathroom walls. Haley was starting to get uncomfortable against the small tiles pressed against her bare back and her nerves were getting the better of her. Her breathing was shallow as she looked deep into Nathan's eyes; she knew that she wouldn't stop though. This had been her idea, and it had gone too far for her to make any move of stopping now._

"_I don't want to hurt you." His voice was soft and breathy, much the way she imagined her own voice would be if she were to speak, but she wasn't going to. She was positioned at his waist, and she knew that if she made even the smallest movement down she would officially not be a virgin anymore. But she wasn't worrying about that. She didn't care that these were the last moments she would be a virgin. That didn't matter; she knew she would never regret loosing her virginity to her best friend. She didn't really care. She was just thinking about the boy that was supposed to be her boyfriend. The boy she really didn't care about, and wished wasn't on her mind at that moment. She wished she wasn't having second thoughts because she was losing her virginity to a boy who was her best friend and not the boy who was supposed to be her boyfriend. She silently cursed herself for thinking that way, and just moved her head so that she was kissing Nathan again. This was the one person that she would never have regrets over. This was the one person she'd love forever, and ever no matter what. He couldn't hurt her the way other people could. He wouldn't leave her; he wouldn't make her cry; and he would never do anything to hurt her. _

_Or at least that's what she thought._

_She simply shifted her position slightly, and gasped, tears forming in her eyes at the sudden pain that shot through her body. She closed her eyes, and leant her head against the tiles behind her head, waiting for the pain to pass. Nathan just leant his forehead against her neck, feeling guilty that she was in pain when he just felt pleasure rising through his body. The tears rolling down her cheeks were making her feel slightly better, the cool feeling washing over her like an ice pack would. Slowly, the pain dulled, and she started to move slightly in her position, trying to find comfort as the shooting feeling of that same pleasure she had been feeling before shot through her body multiplied by a thousand. Her breath was coming in short gasps, and she wasn't exactly sure why; they hadn't even really done anything. She rolled her hips softly, trying to gain comfort once she had unglued herself from the wall tiles. The imprints on her back felt searing hot, but she was more interested in the burning going up through her stomach. That heat was claiming more of her attention; and that one she could fix easier. She just simply ignored the blood that was bubbling around her thighs, and just rolled her hips again, ignoring the sore feeling she felt between her legs._

"_Uuuh, Hales." Nathan groaned into her chest. He apparently hadn't realized that she was fine again. He didn't see the way she was biting her lower lip with her eyes closed. And he apparently, also wasn't aware of the way the heat that was coming through her stomach towards her throat as she kept circling her hips slightly, not daring to move in and out for fear of the pain coming back._

_Haley rolled her head towards the ceiling with her eyes closed. She groaned softly as the heat bubbled further upwards, but hadn't boiled over yet. She was waiting for that; when the heat would bubble over through her throat, and through her entire body. It was coming, she knew, but it wasn't making any inclination of releasing her any time soon._

_They both knew about sex. They both knew about birth control. They both knew that she had been on birth control for moths. They were both hormonal teenagers that had watched certain things on a computer screen that their parents wouldn't approve of. They had both read stories about this feeling that was going through their bodies, and they both knew what was coming. They just weren't sure when, but they were both getting impatient with the way their bodies were refusing to release them from the grasp of that lusty/pre-orgasmic feeling had them trapped in._

_Haley was biting her bottom lip so fiercely, she could taste the coppery taste of blood on the inside of her lip, but she didn't take notice, she was more interested in the way her body felt as if someone were squeezing it in their fist. It was aggravating and intoxicating at the same time. She wanted to scream from aggravation, and groan in desire. She kept rolling her hips, grasping onto Nathan's shoulders, her fingernails digging into his shoulder painfully._

_Nathan was getting aggravated too. He wanted the firm lust to turn to pleasure, but he was too afraid to hurt her. He simply took her lead with everything, waiting for her to give him any sign that he should take over. When she started to grind her fingernails into his skin in frustration, he decided that that was his sign. Her hips were rocking rhythmically, but it seemed that the harder she tried, and the closer she came to the edge, it simply wouldn't come. He was becoming even more frustrated as her nails dug deeped into his skin._

_In frustration he jerked his hips back, and pushed them back into her, causing her to scream in a release of the pressure that had been building inside of her, him soon following her in his release. _

_She leant forward, still wedged between the wall and Nathan's body, resting her forehead against the shoulder she had previously been piercing. "Remind me in about an hour that we should do that again." She paused as they both laughed breathily, trying to find the breath that they had lost in the time that seemed to have been hours, but was actually only about ten minutes. "And maybe on a bed. I think I'm going to have scars from the tiles digging into a back." He laughed harder and loosened the grip on her waist so she could slide down the wall. She hated being short. _

_End Flashback_

"That's where the picture's from. I still don't know how our parents got a copy of it, because I stole the one that Deb had in the photo album a few weeks ago; but they framed it and put it on the bedside table over the condoms as a warning, I guess." Haley explained. She gave Nathan a shy smile, and blushed at the sensations that his sly smirk made fly through her body.

"Well, at least some of us get a use out of the condoms." Brooke said brightly with a wink to Lucas.

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**AN: In reference to last chapter. I know that it doesn't take 14 hours to get from NC to Cali… but I just picked a random number, and it wasn't fitting in my story line that they would take more than 24 hours (meaning they'd have to stay at a hotel or something, because I see Nathan being possessive about his car, and not letting anyone else drive)… But I am informed that it takes about 36 hours! Thank You YourUndeniable09!**

**Anyways…On to authors notes for this chapter. Okay, I know that I'm probably going to get some grief about them sleeping together at the age of 14… but, well, I'm 14, and half of my friends have lost their V-Card. I just want you guys to know that I don't condone it, because I myself have GIANT 'V' written in red Sharpie on my forehead (not really, just figuratively), but I have friends that lost theirs last year (7th grade), so I don't really have a problem with them loosing it early, especially when they'd known each other their whole lives. Not to mention the teenage hormones! GOD! We've ALL had them, and I'm telling you… it's a 'WHOA!' factor with people my age…**

**And I also blame those stupid hormones for me putting a sex scene in this story… like I said, I am the big V still, so its probably REALLY lame, but, I really don't care… It's how I envision a first time happening.**


	9. Next Story Choice

**An: I am giving you reviewers the choice of the next story you want me to work on after this one. I only have three more chapters written (including this one), but I think I (might) add one more to its ranks, and after that, this story is done. I know that people expect it to go on a bit, but I'm trying to close it out because I'm not feeling it anymore. But I have the next chapter more than half written, and I kKNOW that you will love me FOREVER once you read it… I am EXTREMELY proud of this chapter… so I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**Here are the choices for my next project…**

**Best Friends for Never Sequel (as of yet not titled)**

I can't give much detail, or it will ruin this story, but everyone knows that Naley will get together in the end, I like happy endings, so, we all know that's going to happen. But somewhere between the end of this story and the sequel, Haley goes off to Stanford, while Nathan goes to Duke. The love is there, and burning in their hearts everyday; but they haven't talked in years. What will these former best friend/lovers do when they find each other again when they're thrust back into each other's lives when Brooke convinces Haley to be a professional cheerleader while trying to get her fashion line off the ground? I'll tell you if you pick this story for me to work on…

**The Clique**

Has NO resemblance to the Clique books, it's just a title I liked that fit the story line I have in mind. Haley has lived her whole life in urban Florida, with her closest friends, but what happens when she is forced into small town North Carolina with her bitchy cousin Brooke, just trying to find a place for her clique to fit into the mess… This story also has a chapter posted for a taster… Tell me if you like this idea best… In the end will be Naley/Brucas…

**It'll Come Back to Haunt You**

A story I just recently started working on. Haley changed a lot the summer before her eighth grade year, and almost everyone noticed it, especially the Scott boys. Lucas dares Nathatn to get close to Haley for his own benefit, and of course Haley gets hurt because of their scheming; but she doesn't have to deal with it for long, because soon her parents are ready to pick her out of school and travel cross-country. But she returns in her senior year because of a tragedy that no one could control; and she's thrust back into the lives of people she had run from a few years ago.

**Life-Swap**

Completely AU. What if the infamous half-Scott-brothers, Tree Hill's worst kept secret, were somehow switched at birth (metaphorically) with the Scott half-sisters, Brooke and Haley? They never really did get along, following their fathers lead. Dan refused to claim one, while suffocating the other with money and endless encouragement to be the best at everything she did. Everyone was aware of the rivalry that vibrated through the halls at Tree Hill High from the two Scott sisters, two opposites in the popularity spectrum, but they always knew that there was more to be said.

**AN: Tell me which one you like the best, and which one I should put my next full efforts on. If you've noticed, The Tutor Girl Diaries isn't on the choices. I am working on TTGD no matter what. It's a nice release for when I get stuck on my other stories. Tell me what you think! **

**Thanks for all your reviews, and support!**

**I'm not done with this story yet, but I'm trying to gauge which one will be best received by the readers/reviewers that I already have…**

**Much love**

**Keira**


	10. Chapter 9

**A.N: You will find out about the Naley fallout in this chapter… So be prepared.**

**_Italics_ are either thoughts or flashbacks (I didn't label them in this chapter because I found it to be redundant and meaningless not to mention unprofessional. Have you ever read a Harry Potter book that suddenly says '**_flashback_**'? I didn't think so. Yeah, just something that I've noticed that got to me…) **

**P.S. If you have any way of listening to it, I recommend the song 'Over It' by Katherine McPhee while reading this chapter. It is kind of the opposite of what the chapter entails, but I just felt this a sense of… I don't know, while writing this and listening to that song that gave me inspiration to write this particular chapter the way I did, and in particular ending it the way I decided to, which just happened to go into the next chapter I was trying to figure out how I was going to work into. I love the way my muses work in circles… The song is on my myspace page (my homepage) for people who care about my suggestion.

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_Pain, without love  
Pain, I can't get enough  
Pain, I like it rough  
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all..._

**-Three Days Grace**

**Chapter eight:** Why does it hurt so badly?

The rain was beating down mercilessly against the beach house windows. Haley and Nathan were sprawled out on the living room sofa trying to find anything to do while their friends did unspeakable things to each other upstairs. The only hint they had as to what exactly was going on was the soft moans, and unrecognizable speech that wafted down the stairs every now and then.

It had been a few weeks since Haley and Nathan's confession about their 'intimate past', and they hadn't talked about much of anything other than the beach and light and fluffy topics in just as long. Haley could feel the calm before the storm, and she was waiting for the shit to hit the fan.

"Haley?" She nodded to show that she was listening and that he should continue, but she never took her eyes off the television. They might have come to an agreement to be civil towards the other when around either their parents or friends, but it still hurt her to even look at him without thinking of what he had done to her.

"Haley…" He paused, unsure if it was okay for him to ask this question, and not sure what she would do once it was out of his mouth. "What happened to us Hales?" And the calm before the storm has officially ended. I can literally hear the lightning.

She was shocked into silence. She didn't know if she had heard him right or not. "I can not believe you just asked me that question." She shook her head, sat the remote beside her on the couch, and pushed herself towards the swinging doors that lead to the magnificent kitchen.

"Haley, you know I didn't mean it like that." Nathan had followed after her, cursing himself silently for even bring it up.

"Well, any way that you put that question is going to upset me, so why don't we just stop before I start throwing things, huh?" Her voice was calm, but he could read through it. She was hurting so badly. After all these years, his actions of just a few hours had ruined their friendship and the real Haley; the one he had been in love with. Brooke was right that night at the River Court. He had ruined Haley. He ruined their friendship, he ruined her sense of fun, and he ruined her happiness. He had ruined the one person in the world that he couldn't even try to not care about.

"I mean it as, why was our friendship not strong enough to survive it." His voice was almost a whisper, and she wouldn't have heard it if she hadn't had her eyes closed trying to concentrate on keeping breathing and the sound of the waves reaching through the wood house.

Her eyes snapped open, the hurt gone. The only thing that was in her eyes now was pure, unsaturated anger; all directed at him. "You know EXACTLY why we couldn't overcome it! You SLEPT with my SISTER! Then lied to me about it! There is NO overcoming that!" It was the first time since that night two years ago that they had talked about that night when she found out about Nathan sleeping with Taylor; and she was surprised to find that it actually felt good to talk about it.

"I was drunk Haley, you know that." His voice was still low and hurt. He sounded like a five year old that was finally confessing to stealing cookies before dinner, and he was afraid that his mom might give him a spanking.

"I know that." She could feel the tears well up in her eyes, and she couldn't help than let the pain come into her voice. "I know you were drunk, but it was still my sister, and you still lied. I can't be friends with someone who lies Nathan, and if you knew me as much as I thought you did, than you would have just told me, but you didn't. You slept with my sister, lied to me about it, slept with her again, and then got caught. That's the story, and I'm surprised that it was so easy for me to say all that, but it actually didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. I guess that proves that it wasn't as big a deal as I made it out to be."

By this time the tears had already left large trails down her cheeks, and Nathan couldn't take it anymore. That last statement had just hurt. "Of course it's a huge deal! But you know I would never hurt you on purpose." He couldn't believe how a nice night spent watching TV and making fun of Jessica Simpson's terrible acting in Dukes of Hazzard, had turned into them yelling, and putting more pain in a room than had ever been recorded into the world record books.

"Do you want me to be hurt, or let it fall of my back Nathan? You have to choose!" She was angry, angrier than she had been in two years, and that anger mixed together with the hurt that had been coursing through her body for so long, was finally exploding at the person that had caused it.

"I want it all to go away! I want to go back to that night and leave with you when Brooke called you! I want us to be friends again! I want to be happy again! I want you to be happy again! I want to be able to do all of the things that we used to do together. I want it not to hurt every time I see you." His voice became softer as he spoke, and he could feel unshed tears welling in his own eyes.

She couldn't take it anymore; she had to get out of there. She couldn't take hearing all of the things that she wanted, coming from his mouth. It was his fault they weren't friends anymore, and he's the one that has to deal with that at night. He's the one that ruined everything, and he's the one that made the choice to follow the wrong head, and that made everything in the past two years _his_ fault.

Haley stormed out of the kitchen, running up the stairs to her bedroom. She was so upset she didn't even see the slightly disheveled Brooke and Lucas standing near the bottom of the staircase, listening in on everything that had been said between their friends.

_Haley sighed as she took another shot. "I never…" Brooke gave her a conniving grin. "I never had to defend myself that I wasn't in love with my best friend." Haley sighed, and took a shot, along with Nathan. "Even though I really was." Brooke added after they already had the glasses to their mouths and the liquid pouring down their throats. Haley gave a cough of shock as she choked on the small amount of vodka._

"_That wasn't fair Cheery-Girl. Why are you trying to get Nate and me drunk?" She asked her best friend with a little giggle in her tipsy state._

_Nathan gave the guy version of a giggle, and gave Haley a kiss on the cheek. "I don't know what she's up to, but can you complain?" He asked her, his words slightly slurred._

"_I guess not." She said with another giggle, and took another shot for no reason. Brooke and Bevin both gave identical giggles and followed Haley's lead by taking another shot._

"_I never… didn't wear my spankies under my cheerleading uniform." Haley said pointedly to Brooke._

"_I was never number 23." _

"_Luke, that was the lamest 'I Never' ever." Nathan told his half-brother with a twitch of his neck to throw back his shot. "Come on Hales, let's go. Our friends aren't being fair with this game." Nathan stood up from his seat beside Haley, and pulled her up by her hand, leading them up the stairs. They pushed open a door and fell into it, giggling madly. _

_Haley lay atop Nathan as people looked into the room with a curious glance as to why the two most popular freshmen at Tree Hill High were lying on top of the other in a bedroom completely drunk. Haley rolled off of Nathan, and closed the door to the prying eyes of their peers. _

"_Why was Brooke trying to get us drunk?" Haley asked in an attempt at a serious tone, but it just came out as a cheery giggle._

"_I don't know, but I think she succeeded. Hehe! Suc-seed-ed. Hehe! Funny." Nathan gave a drunken giggle, and fell onto the bed next to a giggling Haley._

"_You know, being drunk is almost as fun as…" Haley began to giggle uncontrollably again, but Nathan knew exactly where her mind was drifting._

"_Well, I can fix that." He leant over her, and promptly started attacking her lips with his own. She didn't even think anything of it, just returned the passion at full force, pulling at his collar so that he was lying fully on top of her. He moved his hands up her rib-cage, pulling her shirt up with it. _

_When their moths disconnected to shed her shirt, she used the time to start unbuttoning his, and sliding it over his broad shoulders. She couldn't believe how much he had changed in the past year. He had grown at least a foot, his voice had deepened, he had started working-out, and he had started to stare at her with a certain look in his eyes. She couldn't pin-point what exactly it was, but she saw it when no one else had; but she assumed it was some form of lust, because she sure changed a lot in that year too._

_She dragged her hands over his stomach, feeling his chest move up and down with his breath, leading her way down to his belt, knowing full well what was coming (haha… funny). She unclipped it, and soon felt the release of her breasts as Nathan had finally fumbled her bra open. She gasped slightly when she felt his hands moving up and down her body softly; he didn't even seem miffed that her pants were still on. He just took in all of her skin with his hands, touching as tenderly as was possible in his state._

_They were both thoroughly inebriated, but neither could miss the sharp music that flowed through the room, and pierced their ears. Haley let out a groan as she moved to her right side, removing the small black phone from her back pocket as Nathan rolled off of her. He sighed, and rubbed his eyes with his palms, trying to tell certain body parts to calm down. _

_Haley took a deep breath before flipping the phone open. She knew that whatever the reason that Brooke was calling, it would not end in her and Nathan finishing what they had started. "Hey Tigger." She knew she must have sounded annoyed, but she didn't care much. She was annoyed. But her tone was lost on the sobbing girl on the other end of the line._

"_Haley. Lucas and I just had a huge fight! Can you please come over here?" Brooke sobbed, her voice displaying her aggravation and sadness._

"_Yeah, I'll be right there Brooke." Haley really couldn't deny her friend a shoulder to cry on when she needed one. She knew that the annoyance in her voice was still there, but she couldn't exactly hide it when it was in the forefront of her mind. She took another deep breath as she slammed her phone shut. Her eyes were shut, and she didn't want to open them. She knew that when she did, she'd have to start to get dressed again, and she wasn't ready for the confines of her clothes again. She wanted to stay right here with Nathan forever. Always and Forever. _

_No one knew about their arrangement. No one knew about them having sex the summer before. And no one knew about the many times they had had sex since then. No one knew; but everyone suspected. Even their parents knew somehow, but they didn't discourage them at all. Not that they would have stopped if they had. _

_Their friendship hadn't changed at all. They just got a little added bonus every now and then. And their parents and friends didn't even really notice much because they shared a bed all the time anyways. When Haley would get scared, or when they just wanted to talk. _

_Haley pried her eyes open and grabbed her bra from somewhere Nathan's other side. She pulled it over her shoulders sadly. She certainly didn't want to leave, but she knew that if Brooke was upset enough to call her, then it had been a bad fight. She was still trying to control her insides, and the way Nathan was laying there without a shirt on, and his hands over his face in silent frustration wasn't giving her brain much room to argue._

_Haley rose from her back on the bed, and scanned the room quickly, searching for her shirt. She had to get out of there fast, before she changed her mind. She found her t-shirt flung across a chair on the other side of the room. She quickly grabbed it and put it on, only taking a quick glance towards Nathan, who looked almost as if he were asleep. She kissed him softly on the cheek, and whispered her goodbyes. "Sorry Nate." Her buzz had worn-off the moment that Brooke called, and she just left Nathan there to sleep it off._

_About fifteen minutes after Haley left him, Nathan felt as if someone were watching him, and it was making him uncomfortable; not that he wasn't used to being watched, but this certain gaze was making his skin crawl. _

_He lifted his upper body from the mattress and scanned the room for his shirt; finding something he'd rather not see if he were in his usual state of mind. Taylor James was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room with a plastic cup in her long fingers, eying him dangerously. "Baby sister leave you high and dry there Nate?" She asked silkily, covering the hatred and malice in her voice with a fake concern and a baby voice that would sicken any even toddler._

_Nathan just lay back down on the bed, hoping that she would go away, and that the room would stop spinning. "Haley-bub always did have a tendency to bite off more than she could chew." She pasted on a cheerful smile. "Could she not handle you Nate?" He rolled his eyes and shifted his position, telling certain body parts that they had to calm down now. He didn't want Taylor to see him like that._

"_I can handle you." Her voice had gone low and seductive as she crossed the room to the bed, placing her cup on the bedside table, and straddling his legs; moving upwards slowly, tracing her hands and legs along his legs as she moved. "I know you want me Nate." She whispered in his ear, flicking her tongue out to graze his earlobe. _

"_Get off me Taylor." His voice was squeaky and forced, coming from low in his throat. He didn't have much conviction in his voice, and she noticed it as she kissed down his neck, taking nips at his exposed skin. He growled deep in his throat, and took a deep breath, trying to gain back his ability to speak like a normal person. "Taylor. Get off me." This time his voice was deeper and had more seriousness to it. But Taylor didn't budge from her position atop him._

"_Did you say 'get off of you' or 'get you off'?" She grabbed a hold of his earlobe again, and tugged on it, as her hands tugged on his belt buckle._

_And he was too intoxicated by her words, her touches, and the two liters of alcohol he had consumed to protest any further._

_---_

_Haley woke up the next morning in Brooke's bed with popcorn kernels mixed all through her hair. By the time she had gotten to Brooke's house Lucas had already called and apologized for whatever mediocre excuse for a fight they had had, so they just watched movies and laughed about stupid stuff while making noise float through Brooke's empty house. _

"_Happy Birthday Hales." Brooke sing-songed as she danced around her trashed room, taking things out of her closet as she tried to pick out her clothes for the day._

_Haley sat up in bed, and immediately grabbed her throbbing head in her hands. "Hangover food is in the kitchen." Brooke told her friend kindly as she took riffled through her jeans, now picking out Haley's out-fit._

"_Oh, angel of mercy. How I love thee." Haley said with a slight wobble to her voice as she threw the blanket away from her body, and headed down the stairs. When she entered the stainless steel kitchen, the first thing she saw were the most holiest of hangover foods. McDonalds french-fries and a large Coke. Brooke Davis was a real angel sent to earth._

_After finishing the jumbo batch of fries, and half the coke, she picked her phone up from the black marble counter top and speed-dialed her number one. _

_It rang four times, and then was answered by a shaky and groggy female voice. "Who the hell calls at this un-Godly hour?" Haley knew that voice. She would recognize it anywhere. It was the voice of the devil herself. The only question was why Lucifer was answering Nathan's phone._

"_Sorry Taylor, God doesn't give a damn about whores." Haley spat at her older sister, not bothering to come of as sounding anything but a bitch._

"_Retract the claws little sis. I have a hangover." Taylor shaky and gravely voice came through the receiver._

"_Why are you answering Nathan's phone?" She didn't feel like talking to her sister right now. Her sister was somewhat of a sore spot for Haley, and the fact that Taylor was back from college for whatever excuse she decided to use instead of just admitting that she was kicked out, didn't sit well with her either._

_Taylor paused for a few beats, trying to come up with a good excuse. "He must have left it here." _

"_Fine." And she clapped her phone shut, not even bothering to say goodbye. Taylor just _had_ to come back to town and ruin her birthday. Gah!_

_-----_

_Haley took a deep sigh as she opened the door to her own home. Usually she didn't have to worry about anyone or anything in her house, her parents and all of her siblings were never home. She never had anyone to watch out for her or look over her shoulder. But she liked it that way. She had Nathan, Brooke and Lucas; that's all she needed. But now her sister was crashing her life. Taylor decided to come home for the weekend and that just pissed Haley off. She didn't see what exactly her sister had against her, but it seemed that ever since they were little, Taylor could never take being second best to Haley at everything, so she usually tried to take whatever would be considered better, or getting something just as good. That's how Taylor worked. And that's what scared Haley the most about her older sister. What Taylor wanted, she got. And what Taylor wanted the most was revenge._

_-------_

_Haley rushed through her house when she heard the all too familiar voice of her best friend calling her name. "Haley! I'm here!" They had long since foregone the formality of ringing the doorbell when going to the others house. Their parents were rarely home, and usually they were so they would just open the usually unlocked doors. A few times, a few years back, they had had a rather awkward couple of days where they had walked in on the other while changing; but now that was far from a factor that would deter them. That had been taken care of the summer before in a movie theater bathroom in California._

_Haley threw herself into the awaiting arms of her best friend and hugged him tightly. She was the youngest of her three closest friends, which was ironic when you thought about it, because she was the most mature, or maybe Lucas was, but either way, she was the youngest, so her birthday was celebrated in a more private way. Every year since could remember, the four of them would get together on her birthday and do something just the four of them. The older they got, the better the night alone was. The year before had been the best so far. They had gathered in Haley's living room and played a game of charades that led to things that had absolutely nothing to do with the game. She distinctly remembered Brooke suggesting the four of them break into the high school and go skinny dipping in the pool. They had made it all the way to the school before they remembered that none of them had a way to break in. It was rather disappointing, but it didn't deter the any. They ended up waking up at Nathan's parents' beach house. They still couldn't quite remember how they had gotten there, but they shrugged it off as a 'caught in the moment' lapse of memory._

"_Happy birthday Haley-bub" he whispered softly into her ear as he held onto her tightly. He was already feeling guilty for his lapse in judgment the night before. He would regret that for a long time. He already knew that; but when he had awoken to an empty bed in Tim's house, and his phone sitting on the pillow beside him with a simple note on it, he had instantly felt like he had done something that could desprately harm his relationship with Haley forever. That, and that alone was the reason he had so far followed the directions written on the note that Taylor had left for him. Don't tell, and I won't. T. That was all she had said to him. After almost forcing him to have sex with her the night before, the only thing that she had to say to him was not to mention anything to anyone. What, was she ashamed that she had slept with him? He could live with that; because he was ashamed about sleeping with her._

"_Why didn't you stay when you came by earlier?" She asked as she put them between arms distance. That confused him. He hadn't come by earlier, and he didn't know what gave her the impression that he had._

"_Huh." Yep. He really was an eloquent speaker._

"_Taylor answered your phone this morning, and when I asked her why, she said that you left your phone here. And since I called you on your phone earlier and you answered, I'm assuming that you came by and got it." She spoke as if to say 'duh'._

"_Oh. Yeah. I came and got it earlier, but I couldn't stay because of tradition. We can't see each other before your birthday celebration. Wouldn't want to ruin tradition, now would you?" _LIAR!_ His head was screaming at him; but he knew that Haley would be really disappointed in him if he told her that he had slept with her sister, not to mention that it would ruin her birthday. Taylor was more than a little of a touchy subject with Haley. She didn't trust Taylor at all, and the fact that her best friend had fallen for Taylor's bull would be like a shot to the ribs. He just sighed when Haley smiled, rolled her eyes, and nodded her head, leading him into the living room where Brooke, Lucas, Jake, and Peyton were already gathered. They had decided to add Jake and Peyton to their tradition for the first time. They figured that they had had enough years of just the four of them, and Jake and Peyton were such close friends, it seemed natural to have them as an addition._

"_Haley, you didn't tell me you were having a party. I know it must have been a mistake. Did you forget to invite me?" Taylor asked, in a fake attempt at a baby voice. She grabbed hold of Haley's hand and fell onto a couch, dragging her sister with her._

"_Taylor, go away." Haley told her older sister, in an icy tone that could stop a bullet in its tracks._

"_Aw. Haley-bub. You don't want me here? But I'm sure your friends do. Don't you guys?" Her voice was so cheery and sunny, Haley felt like she might burst from the falsity that her sister was putting on display. But her friends knew about Taylor; everyone in the room shook their heads and gave some kind of curt answer Taylor that consisted of an order to leave. Haley grinned as she saw Taylor roll her eyes and head towards the stairs to her bedroom. _

"_That was priceless!" Brooke giggled as she, too, watched the evil-Taylor walk up the stairs._

_-----_

_The next morning, Haley woke up with a banging headache. She had once again drank more than she intended to, and she was being punished for it; but it had been her birthday, and she deserved to have fun on her birthday. She gave a giggle as she remembered the Coyote-Ugly-like bar-dance her and Brooke had done the night before after more than a few drinks of vodka, scotch, and any other hard liquor she could find in her house._

_She was walking down the hall towards the kitchen, in search of something that could calm her jumpy stomach, when she heard voices coming from her sisters room. Being the nosy little sister she was, she neared the ajar door, and listened in of the conversation that was taking place._

"_You gotta be careful Nate, Haley suspects something. I answered your phone this morning and she knows something's up." Taylor told her younger sister's best friends in a conspiratorial whisper._

"_I say that we should just tell her. She'd forgive us. Or she would forgive me." Nathan was grabbing his clothes from the floor and pulling them on as quickly as he could. "But what I don't know is how I ended up without my clothes on last night. We didn't do anything. I remember the other time, but I fell asleep on the couch last night." He sounded confused, but Haley didn't really care. The only thing that came across to her was the fact that her sister and best friend were planning how to lie to her. _

"_It's called sex Nate."_

_She felt like the world was falling in around her. She couldn't breath, she couldn't think, and she had a pain in her chest that she couldn't identify as any specific emotion. _

"_Yeah, but I was drunk both times. And I feel like a dick for lying to Haley about it." Again, the emotions in his voice were lost on the girl standing outside the door. She could barely breathe as the tears welled in her eyes, and started to fall down her cheeks._

"_Don't worry Nate. You don't have to lie anymore." The voice that spoke shocked Nathan from the concentration he had on fastening his belt buckle. He jerked his head upwards towards the voice that wasn't Taylor James. The door had just creaked open to reveal a crying Haley with one arm crossed over her chest as she tried to wipe the tears away, but they were just replaced by more._

"_Haley…" But before he could get out a full sentence, she was gone, down the stairs, and by the sound of the door slamming echoing through the house, out the front door. He cursed under his breath and sighed, picking his shirt up from the floor, and heading towards the open bedroom door. The last thing he heard before disappearing after Haley was the sound of Taylor's evil laughter floating through the empty house._

_Haley ran to Brooke's house, not bothering, or caring that she was still in her pajamas, or that her hair was a mess. She needed her best friend, and a few moments ago she had lost hers, and she knew that Brooke would be more than happy to fill the position. When Nathan knocked on the door a few minutes after she arrived, she didn't answer, when he wouldn't leave, Brooke went to the door and told him to fuck off. Haley didn't return to her house at all the rest of the weekend; but when she went home to get her clothes for school on Monday, Taylor had left._

Haley's heart constricted violently as she remembered that one memory that could send tears to her eyes faster than seeing a puppy being run over (not that she had ever seen that). She felt so many things that she simply could not put into words. The one person she thought she could trust most in the world had betrayed her. She thought that Nathan would always be there for her no matter what. And he had proved her wrong. He had showed her that you couldn't depend on anyone. The world was too bad a place. You can't trust anyone with everything.

She trusted Brooke with her secrets; but not with her heart. She didn't trust anyone with her heart anymore. No one deserved it. No one could prove that they deserved it. She simply wouldn't let emotions like that get the best of her. She couldn't let people in, because if she did they would just hurt her the same way Nathan had. Brooke was the closest she had to someone she trusted fully; but she would never let her the whole way in; she was just too scared to try.

She sobbed into her pillow freely. This room wasn't the room that she had shared with Nathan three years ago; that one held too many memories. She had opted for the room that Deb and Dan had shared that summer. The sheets and pillows smelled foreign, and the walls looked foreboding, like they were telling her that she didn't belong there. No matter what she did she couldn't seem to become comfortable in the large bed. She just sobbed into her pillows, letting out whimpers of sadness as the tears sailed from her eyes into the fabric of the pillow-case. She couldn't remember not feeling this way at any time in the past two and a half years. The pain felt like a vice grip over her chest, when actually it was a brick wall guarding the one thing she had left. Her broken heart.

She shakily removed the covers from around her body, and pulled a cotton jacket over her pajama tank top. The houses air-conditioning was doing over-time, and she was practically freezing in her small pajama shorts. She opened her squeaky door slowly and walked down the hall, pulling the long sleeves over her hands, and playing with them with the tips of her fingers.

When she reached her destination, she knocked on the door lightly, not waiting for an answer before she opened the squeaky door to reveal a dark room with only a shadow of a figure lying beneath the blankets. The occupant of the bed looked up into her face, her pursing and un-pursing her lips as the tears flew down her face. She looked into the eyes of the person she had gone to and when they patted the spot on the bed next to them, she flew to it, and wrenched the blankets up so that she could crawl under them. She snuggled into the warm embrace, and cried through the cotton shirt of the one person she couldn't trust in the whole world.

"You have no idea how bad it hurts Nate." He had hurt her to an extreme that she couldn't even express; yet he was the one she ran to when it got to be too much. He was her safe haven no matter how much shit he had caused; and that would never change, so she just sobbed into his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Hales." He told her back. His own voice broken with the kind of emotion and guilt that he could only be put under by the girl he had in his arms at that moment. She was the one person he had hurt to no end. And she was the one person he would vow to never hurt again; if she would give him the chance.

* * *

**A.N: This chapter was very cut-and-paste to me. I'm the kind of writer that writes future chapters (or parts of them) and then does the whole of it when she gets to it. This chapter was the biggest one that I did that with (and the next one is a lot like that also). I hope it came together well, and I hope you guys liked how I displayed _The Betrayal_. I know I built it up a lot, so I'm not really sure about the end product… You tell me.**

**While I was reading a fanfiction myself, I came across the world's_ greatest_ invention. I call it _The Purple Button_. It's kind of self explanatory. It's that purple button at the bottom of this page that says 'go'. I swear it is an invention fit for Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, or even (gasp), JK Rowling. Please take use of this new invention. They are trying to determine if it is working well on the market, and I would absolutely _hate_ for it to be recalled because such amazing readers such as yourselves didn't take use of it… That would be terrible, right?**

**Keira**


	11. Chapter 10

**A.N: I know I've made you guys wait for awhile for this chapter, but I've been having these weird sleeping patterns lately. My Aunt is staying at my house because of my grandma having a surgery, and she's staying here for a few more days; and me and my Aunt have been fighting over the computer the past week… Whenever I seem to get a brain-wave, she would ask me to go on the computer (don't worry I didn't give it up too easily), but I've been having brain freezes, and then when I had brain waves the computer was taken away… :( I know… excuses, excuses… Oh well... On to chapter 10!

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**

_Come with me, stay the night_

_You say the words but boy it don't feel right_

_What do you expect me to say (You know it's just too little too late)_

_You take my hand, and you say you've changed_

_But boy you know your beggin don't fool me_

_Because to you it's just a game_

**-Jojo**

**Chapter 10:** You hurt me too bad… I'm sorry…

When Haley woke up the next morning, there was a warmth somewhere near her left side, and she dug her head further into the comfort of the blankets to let the heat radiate further into her own body. Only when an arm came out and grabbed her by her waist to pull her closer did she realize that the heat was coming from a body. The body that she shouldn't be letting comfort her.

She couldn't believe her stupidity. She had run to him. Why in the hell did she pick him? She should have gone to Brooke, or Lucas, or even the guy that she had met in the supermarket the week before that had told her she was hot and to call if she felt like a good time. Anyone but Nathan-freaking-Scott.

She jumped from the bed, pulling the sleeves of her jacket further down her arms in attempt to warm her hands. She was practically hyperventilating from her stupidity, and she couldn't help but let out faint whispers as Nathan stirred. "Oh my god. Oh my god." She whispered over and over again, not caring that Nathan was now fully awake, and staring at her like she was some insane woman loose from the insane asylum.

"I shouldn't have come in here. I'm sorry for waking you." She said in a hushed whisper as she wrapped her arms around herself and stared at a spot on the dark blue comforter that was crumpled in Nathan's bed. She started heading for the door, but he grabbed her by the arm and turned her back to facing him.

She nearly smacked into his hard chest now that he was standing up, but she could feel her tears coming now, and she didn't want him to see her cry again. She really did cry too damn much. "Nathan, I shouldn't have come here. I can't cry about you to you." Her voice was still quiet and shaky, but now not from sleep, but because of her fear and the tears that were threatening to spill over.

"Why not?" He asked as he placed his hands on either side of her arms and shook her lightly, as if he were seeing if her brain wasn't connected right, and it would rattle in her head.

"Because you hurt me too much. I can't trust you Nathan." She couldn't control it anymore, and the tears spilt over her eye-lids and down her already tear-stained cheeks.

"I know that Haley, but I can't do anything about the past. I've said sorry more times than I can count. Nut I'll say it another billion times if it'll make you just talk to me." His voice was desperate and shaky, like he too would break into tears at any moment.

"I can't do that. And you know that. We're not friends anymore Nathan." As the last sentence flew out of her mouth, her voice filled with a conviction she hadn't even realized she had; but she knew that the tears still falling down her cheeks didn't make her case any more powerful.

She turned from his grasp, and exited the room, letting the faint whimpers escape her throat as she went back towards her room. Why did she choose him? Why the hell did she choose Nathan to comfort her? _Because he's your protector no matter what._ Her head told her. Bullshit. Nathan is the person that hurt her more than anyone else ever could, there is no way in hell he was her protector.

She just shook her head and put on the first outfit she found that would pass as presentable to Brooke. She took a glance at her clock, and found that it was 4:30 pm. How did she sleep that long? She hadn't slept that long since… since the last time she had snuck into Nathan's bed in the middle of the night. She opened her door to go downstairs, knowing that her parents would be there any moment to take them to dinner, but was stopped by a rather hard body that was blocking her way.

"Haley, if you didn't want to be friends again, why did you suggest it?" He yelled the moment she stepped foot out of her summer-bedroom. He was pissed. He didn't understand her at all anymore. One minute it was like nothing ever changed, and then the next she was freaking out, and apologizing for actually acting civil towards him. What exactly was wrong with her? Had she lost all of her brain cells over the past two years? "One minute I think we're friends again, and then the next you freak out! I don't get it Haley! Tell me what I'm supposed to do! I get that I made a HUGE mistake. I get that! I know you can't trust me. That is one thing that I have come to terms with over the past two and a half years. But I never know how to act around you. I feel like I'm walking on fucking egg shells. I know I made a mistake. But _everyone_ makes them Haley! Even you make them! Mine was bigger! I get that! But just tell me what to do! Why can't we even pretend to be friends anymore? We did it for fifteen years!"

By this time, she was angry too, and she didn't even pay attention to the words that flew from her mouth. "BECAUSE I'M IN LOVE WITH YOU! AND YOU BROKE MY FUCKING HEART NATHAN!" _Oh My Damn! I DID NOT just say that out loud!_ Her voice was loud and forced, as if someone was forcing every word through her body, just trying to get her to tell the truth.

Nathan was shocked into silence. He had been prepared for a long argument, one where they would both yell and say things that they didn't mean; but what had actually been said was NOT what he had expected. He probably looked like some kind of idiot in his state of shock.

Haley clasped her hand to her mouth in shock at her own confession. She _really_ hadn't meant to say that. She felt it for sure. She'd felt it since she was thirteen; but actually saying it out-loud nearly sent her into hysterics. She knew that he would freak out and not want to be friends anymore. That's how this kind of stuff worked. You couldn't go on in a friendship when you knew that one half of the relationship was in-love with the other, but had no inclination of reciprocation.

But she was surprised by what he said; or rather what he asked her; and even more surprised at her answer. "Did you mean that?" His voice was low and tired, like he just wanted to fall asleep, and didn't really have much care for the conversation he was currently in.

"Yes." She hadn't meant to say that. She had told herself to say no! That was the smart move; but nooooooo the smart girl had to be _really_ stupid! Gah! What was she thinking???

Suddenly, and very surprisingly, his lips were on hers within seconds, not trying to make any real progress, just lightly, and deliberately. She simply could not back away. This was what she wanted. She wanted him. He was the one person she simply could not turn down. He was the one person who had hurt her more than anything; yet he was the one she ran to. He was the one person that could make her feel both terrible and exhilarated in two minutes flat.

She couldn't let this happen though. She wanted it too bad to actually let it happen. He was her weakness, and she knew it. So she un locked their mouths and stepped away from him, trying to keep her head down so that he wouldn't see the tears that were ever-present in her eyes.

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**A.N: This chapter was meant to be when Naley got together, but when I went back and reread it, I thought it sounded really dumb. I have a few things I need Haley to come to a close about before I do that. I think maybe three more chapters after this. The next chapter I have planned in my head, and I really like it, so I hope you like it, I think I'll probably post it later tonight. **

**I'm sorry this is short. I'll try to update again tonight…**

**I originally had this chapter written a few weeks ago (like, 6 weeks ago), but I deleted a lot of it, so, sorry it took so long… **

**I know… I say 'sorry' too much…**

**Keira**


	12. Chapter 11

_There's another world inside of me  
That you may never see  
There're secrets in this life  
That I can't hide  
Somewhere in this darkness  
There's a light that I can't find  
Maybe it's too far away...  
Or maybe I'm just blind..._

**-3 Doors Down**

**Chapter 11:** Why do you care now?

Haley burst through the front door, and out into the cool night air, not even sparing a second glance to the two sets of parents that were present in the living room. She really didn't care what her or Nathan's parents thought of her. She was too freaking confused. Nathan had kissed her and she hadn't stopped him instantly; granted, she did eventually, but she shouldn't have let it go the way it had. She had told herself for over two years that she hated him; but at the slip of her tongue, she had been severely corrected.

She walked onto the sandy beach warily. She didn't know what to think anymore.

She had been pushed towards Nathan Scott her whole life. Their parents had been planning their wedding since they were in diapers. She couldn't even remember why their parents were friends anymore. Her whole life didn't make sense anymore. She had more questions than answers, and more tears than she knew what to do with. She didn't know what to believe or who to trust. She knew why she couldn't trust Nathan, but for some reason, it didn't seem like such a big deal anymore. For some reason when she replayed the whole scenario in her head she had a nagging feeling that constantly said_ was that it?_. She never knew how to act around anyone. She didn't have a life of her own, and she didn't even have a personality anymore. She couldn't remember the last time she had laughed, or the last time she had made a joke. But she definitely could remember the last time she cried. She was crying right then. She seemed to never stop crying anymore. She couldn't even remember what she had been like before Nathan Scott had broken her heart.

She could faintly remember laughing, and jokes, and sarcastic banter. She could remember days at the beach splashing in the salty water, and basketball games where Nathan winked at her while playing. She could remember a few dumb fights over the best way to mix a milkshake, and a few bouts of squealing after being lifted over Lucas' shoulder and thrown into a pool. She could faintly remember happiness. The feeling like something was wiggling inside her chest, or the way a certain thing made a smile cross her face, no matter how mad she was about something else, or the way her eyes would bulge out of her head when something surprised her. She missed those times. She missed when nothing seemed to faze her, or when she barely ever cried. She missed the way Nathan used to twist his finger around a piece of her hair at a random time, she missed the way her cheeks burned from smiling so wide, and she especially missed the way her heart would leap when she was with her five best friends.

She hated that she was spiteful when Jake and Peyton got together, and the way she felt weighed down by secrets. She hated the way she wanted to cry every time she heard Brooke and Lucas talking about their future, and she hated even more the way she had become so cynical about everyone and everything. She hated that she didn't believe in love anymore.

She hated her life. She hated everyone. And most of all she hated herself.

The tears were flying down her cheeks at an unnaturally fast rate. She was squinting her eyes shut and clutching at her stomach, trying to gain her breath, and trying to stop her hysterical sobbing. She wasn't sure what to do anymore. She never knew what to do anymore. It all seemed wrong now.

She snapped her head up when she felt a warm hand on her back. She shivered at the sensation, and moved from the touch. She didn't want help. She wanted to be alone, sort out her own thoughts, just staring at the ocean, and getting lost in the salty smell of the water.

"What do you want mom?" She asked testily, not even looking towards her mother, as the sand flew as the older woman plopped down into the sand. Haley never particularly had a great relationship with her mother. They never really had much to talk about. When she needed to talk she would talk to Nathan or Brooke. She didn't need her mother to be her best friend, she had one of those already (along with a guy that she didn't know what to think about anymore).

"I know about—" Haley didn't even let her mother finish her sentence.

"You don't know anything mother."

Lydia took a deep sigh, knowing that she probably deserved that, and a lot more from her youngest daughter. She knew she hadn't been there when she was needed. She was somewhere with her husband, soaking up sun, and having the time of her life. Haley was forced to raise herself; just like Booke and Nathan had done. Come to think of it, the only friend that Haley had that had steady parental figures was Lucas. Karen and Keith Scott were ideal parents. She should aspire to be as caring and kind as they were. But it was too late for that. Haley was grown. She was turning 17 at the end of the summer, and she didn't need her mother anymore; and that was the thing that scared Lydia the most. Shee didn't need her mother anymore; but at one time she did; and she hadn't been there.

"I know what Nathan did Haley. You might like to keep it a secret, but Taylor isn't as tight-lipped as you are." Lydia said regrettably, staring down at her hands over the creamy sand. She hated that she had to convince her daughter to trust and talk to her.

Haley immediately stopped crying, turning to face her mother with wide eyes and her lips forming a small 'o'. the anger would have been evident to anyone that knew her; but her mother didn't know her. Her mother didn't care either. Haley wasn't sure why she was suddenly trying to be 'mommy'. She didn't need that anymore. She had learnt long ago not to wait for her mom to make it all better. Brooke was her 'mom' and her best friend, and that's all she needed. "You knew what he did, and you're still pushing me to him!?! You're more disgusting than I thought you were!" Haley quickly shuffled back towards the house, kicking sand up as she ran through the deep sand.

She had to get away. She had to get away from the person that had birthed her. That woman wasn't even close to the person that could comfort her at the moment. She headed towards the front steps, trying to stop thinking about the things that rattled her mind every day; Nathan Scott and the love her parents simply refused to show.

Haley's body was snapped back towards the ocean as her mother grabbed hold of her elbow. "Haley. You need to know something about that. You deserve to know. Taylor is too proud to tell you, and Nathan doesn't know either." Haley closed her eyelids, praying for patience with this woman that seemed almost as if she were a stranger.

She didn't know what made her do it, but she fell onto the top step on the wooden porch, pulling her knees to her chest, trying to find any form of comfort. "Haley. You need to know that it wasn't as bad as you thought it was." She paused, and shook her head, as if correcting herself. "Well it wasn't as bad as you think Nathan was. It's worse on Taylor's part." Haley nodded, showing that she should continue, not that she understood. "Nathan didn't sleep with Taylor on your birthday." Haley's head snapped up, meeting eye-contact with the identical brown eyes that she had inherited from her mother.

"Well they sure had me fooled; with Nathan putting his clothes back on and all." Haley spit spitefully, her heart constricting in her chest.

"That was the point." Lydia said simply, as if that would explain everything.

"If you're going to waste my time _mom_, then at least make sense while doing it." She used the most venom and sarcasm on the word 'mom' as she could generate, trying to explain without words how much she wasn't enjoying this little catch-up they were currently having.

"It was to fool you sweetheart. Taylor wanted to hurt you." Lydia was trying to ignore the insolent tone that her youngest daughter was currently using with her, but it was hard to avoid the hate in the voice of your baby. It's something you'll never forget, and something you never want to hear.

Haley instantly sprang from the seat she had perched on in the front porch, and headed back into the house, trying not to cry. Her sister had purposefully caused all of this pain. That hurt more than she had ever thought possible.

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**A.N: **For the people that don't know me and read this story, they don't realize how much this story is based on my life. Obviously not completely, but to a certain extent I base Haley's angsty-est feeling on my own cynical thoughts. I, personally, have this weird outlook on love that not too many people understand. I say that love is simply a chemical in the brain that some people take to another level. You can fall in and out of love just as fast as you can take a pee (I know; great metaphor…lol). It's a proven fact, so I take my cynical side (angst) and turn it into a characters feelings related to the topic that I have decided them to befall them. If anyone here has read my story 'The Tutor Girl Diaries' you'll see how I really am in real life. I am random like that. I had my friend Tati read it, and she called me, and was like "When I read that line in the first page about being addicted to Harry Potter, I knew it was you, Keira." I am EXTREMELY addicted to HP, even though if you look at my fanfiction page, you might not get that impression, it's because I like Mugglenet's fanfiction, so I read HP stuff there instead.

Anyways… The point of that little spiel was that I wanted a little mother-daughter interaction between Lydia and Haley. I know that in season 2, they seemed to have a good enough relationship, but then again, Haley and Nathan hated each other until halfway through season 1. Again, AU, people. I wanted to have a little mother-daughter interaction, because I have such an amazing relationship with my own mother, but whenever I try to write a story with that kind of relationship in it, it comes off sounding wrong. My mom is like the sister she never gave me. I love her to death. Love you Mom! (Yes she reads my fanfictions…)

Much love, as always,

Keira


	13. Chapter 12

**A.N:** There was some confusion about the last chapter. Nathan did sleep with Taylor. Sorry. But what was revealed last chapter was that Taylor tricked both Nathan and Haley into thinking that they had slept together a second time… if you still don't understand, just PM me. I love getting on the computer to new PM's and review's…

* * *

_you said I had something to say  
then you got that look in your eye  
there is something youve got to know  
you said it as you started to cry_

**-Three Doors Down**

**Chapter 12:** Siblings are fickle friends

Haley ran back into the house, her mother's words echoing through her head angrily. How could her own sister want to hurt her that bad? That was just cruel to want to do to your own flesh and blood. She couldn't fathom what in the world she could have done to ensue such hatred from her sister. The simple fact that Taylor had always been jealous of her just didn't seem to be enough of a reason in her mind.

She thundered through the house, ignoring the questioning glances she received from Dan, Deb, and her father as she passed the sitting room. She was moving on autopilot, not watching where she was going, or who she ran into. She ignored Brooke when she plowed into her near the stairs, nearly making her loose her footing and fall to the floor. She even ignored her best friend when she gave a little squeal of protest and attempted to talk to her. "What the hell Hales? Are you okay?"

Haley simply kept walking, pounding on the stairs as she went, the sound of her feet connecting with the wood echoing off the walls. She walked determinedly to the place she subconsciously knew she was headed. She wasn't sure why she had to speak to him, or why she knew that he could help, but for some reason, she knew it would.

She knocked on the door feverishly, waiting for a reply before entering, not wanting to walk in on something she didn't want to see. When she didn't get an answer, she knocked again, trying to make the noise recognizable over the blasting from the stereo coming from inside the room.

The volume to Daughtry's 'It's Not Over' faded down to a level where it wasn't pulsing off the walls, and making the doorframe move to the beat of the drums. "Who is it?" Came the soothing voice she was waiting for.

"It's Haley." She waited for an invitation to enter, but didn't have to wait long.

"Come in." He sounded confused, but not angry, or frustrated, which she appreciated more than she could possibly ever describe to him.

Lucas lay on the queen size bed in the middle of his room, a small novel open to somewhere in the middle draped across his chest as if he had just put it down to see what was the matter with her. He gave her a reassuring smile as she opened the door just enough to look in, but his smile convinced her to venture in further, testing her limits. He set a black ball point pen beside his hip on the blue plaid comforter, giving her his full attention as she entered the room tentatively, moving across the soft beige carpet slowly as the door behind her snapped shut.

At the sound of the door closing, she felt like she had been locked in. Now that she was in this room, she knew she had to ask him the question that had been boiling over in her chest, and he seemed to be the only suitable person to ask such a question to. But the closing of the door seemed a sign of sorts to her. It signaled that she needed to start talking. Meaning she would really have to ask him. She couldn't back out now.

"Do you have a minute?" She asked shyly, not quite sure why all of the sudden she was shy around Lucas. She had known him her whole life, just like she had known Nathan and Brooke. Lucas had always been around, he was always hanging out with Nathan, after all, they were brothers. He was Brooke's best friend until they started dating, and Brooke decided that she needed a girl best friend too. But the four of them had always been friends. They were the four musketeers. The four of them were always together, always having fun, going to the movies, sharing secrets that no one else knew; that is, until Haley's fifteenth birthday. But she couldn't seem to place why she seemed to be nervous about this question that she needed to ask him, and only him.

She let out a sigh of relief as he motioned to the foot of the bed for her to sit. She sat softly, trying not to disturb the weight he already had placed on the mattress. She crossed her legs Indian-style, and stared at her hands that she had clasped together in her lap. She took a deep breath, and turned towards the guy that she considered as good as one of her brothers. After all, he was around and present in her life more constantly than any of her real brothers.

"What's bothering you Hales?" He asked softly, moving the book from his chest, placing it by his pen, and moving closer to her on the bed, crossing his legs in an imitation of her, and sitting directly across from her, ducking his head to try and catch her eye; but she stared resolutely at her clasped hands, not noticing, or not caring, the attempt he was making.

"I have a question for you. I want you to answer me as truthfully as you can, and not just what you think is the right thing to say." He nodded sadly, surprised to see this side of Haley. Over the past few years he had seen a lot of things in this girl he had once been so close to, things he never quite expected to see, but at the moment, she had a look in her yes reminiscent of he Haley she had been before she and Nathan had had the fallout him and Brooke had only heard the content of the night before. She had such determination and fire behind the brown spheres, he didn't even notice that she had finally looked up into his eyes.

He had the same eyes as Nathan. That's the only thing that Haley could think of as she looked into Lucas' eyes. They were brothers, only half mind you, but still brothers. They had very noticeable differences, but only the people closest to them would notice the attributes that they shared. They had the same eyes, though Lucas' were a few shades lighter, both of them shared the shape of their top lip, and both of their noses turned up slightly at the end, but you could only see it you were extremely close, like her and Lucas were at that moment.

"If your siblings did something…" She paused to think of a suitable word for what Taylor had done to her, adding in the newest information her mother had just added to the pot, and trudged on, "unforgivable. Would you forgive them?"

Lucas could now see the pain in her eyes that had been a trademark of Haley's through the past two and a half years, and knew the exact context that she was asking the question in. "Siblings are fickle friends." He mused, knowingly, as if he were weighing the question in his head, trying to decide what he would do.

"I would probably do the same thing that you're doing in the case of your sister." He said sadly, as if he were almost ashamed that he had come to that conclusion. He was, actually; to an extent. He wasn't proud to say that he would completely cut one of his brothers out of his life entirely, the way that Haley had done Taylor, but he also remembered Taylor James. "The only difference, Haley, is that we are talking about Taylor here. She was never a good person. She wanted what she couldn't have, and she did anything she could to get it, or tried to get something better; which was rarely likely. She was hateful, and jealous." He ran his thumb across Haley's cheek consolingly, as a show of comfort. She glanced up from her twisting hands, and locked eyes with him, trying not to see Nathan when she looked into his eyes. "But something that you always have to remember Haley, is that she'll always be your sister. No matter what."

She went back to staring at her hands, but began talking too. "See, that's what I thought too." She paused, looking at the comforter between them blankly, twisting her hands in her lap again. "No matter what Taylor has done to me; I always say that she's my sister and that I'll love her no matter what. She sighed deeply, and shook her head in a cryptic sense of humor. "And then she does something that makes me want to take it back." Her voice was nothing more than a mouse squeak; the tears were welling up in her eyes more and more by the second and she willed for them to disappear. She wanted to stop crying. This was what Taylor had wanted. She wanted to make her miserable, to make her suffer. And that's what she didn't want to happen. She didn't want Taylor to win, or even think she had won.

The only problem was that: Haley wasn't ready to forgive yet.

* * *

**A.N:** I have been listening to Three Doors Down for a few weeks now. But today when I was looking for a song that I could use the lyrics to describe this chapter, I instantly thought about the song 'Behind Those Eyes'. I call it the 'Azure Eyes Song', and if you've heard it, you'd know why. But when I went to go and read the lyrics, I found that that song could sum up this whole story. It just seems perfect. I love that song. If there's any way for you to listen to it, please do. (shameless promotion for one of my favorite bands!)

* * *

**Sequel Spoiler:** I used the second verse of that song, 'Behind Those Eyes', as the song verse I am using for the first chapter of the sequel. If you read it, you might get some ideas. I already have the first chapter of the sequel done about half way. I'm trying to decide if I should take what I have and use it as the first chapter, or if I should make an extra long first chapter. You tell me. Mind you, it won't be out until the completion of this story, but there's only a few more chapters to go. Okay, I kind of went off topic about the spoiler I was planning, so…

Read, Review, and make sure to read the new Harry Potter book when it comes out in July (and see the 5th movie, of course!)!

-Keira


	14. Chapter 13

**A.N:** Another Three Doors Down song to describe this chapter. But it seems like I could describe almost every single one of my chapters of this story with a verse of one of their songs. The song in its entirety has absolutely nothing to do with this chapter (or this story). But that was why I chose this specific verse.

Happy Reading.

* * *

_And I've bundled up all of these fears inside  
And I've bottled up all of this pain  
And no one or nothing can take this away  
But I won't let it happen again  
Never again_

**-Three Doors Down**

**Chapter 13: **You knew didn't you?

Haley sat atop Lucas' bed for a few minutes, trying to decide what she should do next. She was lost in her thoughts of what she should do, and how she should act, and how she wanted everything to go back to normal.

In the end, she simply sat staring at her hands, simply trying to avoid Lucas' eyes as he tried to search through her thoughts. She knew very well that if he wanted to, he could do it. She had known him long enough, and well enough that he could probably read her as well as both Nathan and Brooke could.

"You know he never meant to hurt you, right?" He started tentatively, trying to search for anything that he could possible say that would make Haley forgive his brother. Nathan hadn't been the same since Haley had told him that she couldn't forgive him that day in the high school cafeteria. No one understood it at the time, and they understood it even less as time had progressed. But now both Lucas and Brooke knew. They hadn't been told, which would have been the preferred way of hearing about what had transpired between their two best friends; but they could figure out why neither Nathan nor Haley particularly felt keen on disclosing what exactly had happened.

The main reason being that neither of them actually knew the whole story.

Haley assumed the worst of the whole entire situation, which, albeit was mostly factual; and Nathan was too busy metaphorically hitting himself over the head to actually have the sense to tell Haley what he had learnt a few weeks later. He didn't want to hurt her more than she had already been hurt.

Lucas remembered the day that Nathan found out about what Taylor had done. He, of course hadn't told Lucas; but he knew that it had something to do with what had happened between him and Haley. He had just seemed too confused and heartbroken to even think properly.

That was the day that Lucas realized that his brother was in love with Haley James.

_Lucas stepped into the house of his best friend (and half-brother for the few people that didn't buy into the well-placed lie of him being Keith's offspring), and sighed. He was glad he hadn't been raised in this house. He was there more times than not; but it would have been completely different to have lived there. He'd rather not think about it._

_He stepped onto the first step of the large staircase leading to the upper floors, and prepared himself for the absolute wreck that Nathan had been for the past month and a half. Ever since Haley had had the breakdown in the cafeteria, neither of them had acted normally. Usually Nathan would have been at Haley's house at this time of night on a Friday; but he was certain that his brother would be in his room, wallowing in his own self pity right about now._

_He approached the door with caution, as though his worst fear lay on the other side. Though a crying Nathan Scott certainly was towards the top of his fear list, and in the mood that he had been in lately, it wasn't being ruled out as a possibility._

_He had his hand on the handle far before he would have wanted to. He loved Nathan like a brother (yes, he knows that they are brothers…), but Nathan hadn't been acting like Nathan the past few weeks. He had changed into a completely different, unrecognizable, shell of a person. He went through the motions of going to school, playing basketball and hanging out with his friends (namely Lucas and Jake); but he wasn't the happy and joking person that he had been just a few weeks before, and that scared everyone. No one knew what had happened or how the two 'Most Likely to Become a Couple' couple had gotten so off track. Just, one day, no one could exactly pin-point when, they had seemed to fly apart, moving at completely different directions. _

_He pushed the door open slowly after knocking three times with no answer. The first thing he saw and heard was a grown man (or he looked like a grown man) jumping up and down on his bed chanting "I WAS DRUGGED! I WAS DRUGGED!" Needless to say, Lucas was beyond confused. He just simply stood and stared at his brother as he jumped, and chanted. Lucas didn't remember the last time he had seen Nathan looking this happy, and he looked joyous now. He was acting as if he had just won a million dollars, and none of it was being taken away for taxes._

"_Are you on drugs right now?"_

_Nathan promptly fell off the bed and onto the floor, cursing as he stood back up, vainly dusting his clothes of imaginary particles, but his large smile was still in place, brightening his navy eyes to a sparkling azure. "I can't help it! I'm so happy! Haley can't be mad at me anymore! I didn't do it a second time! I was drugged! I was drugged!" He was jumping up and down on the carpet now, probably making dust fall from the ceiling in the dining room below, but he didn't care._

"_Okay, then what are you waiting for? Go tell her." Lucas said, always the voice of reason in his group of friends. Apparently he was the only one in the room that had thought of actually telling Haley of his findings, because Nathan's face immediately dropped, his eyes darkening as his walls went back into place._

_He sat on his bed, shaking his head. He couldn't tell Haley, it would kill her. She'd have to know why, that was the kind of person that's the was. There was a reason for everything, and she would search out a reason as to why in the world her sister would ever want to hurt her like that. He couldn't hurt her like that again. She didn't deserve it, whatever Taylor thought. _

"_I can't." His voice was nothing more than a whisper, and Lucas would have had to strain to hear it, had there been any other noise in the room, but there wasn't._

"_Why the hell not? Set this straight." Lucas wasn't one to get confused very often. He was usually the one explaining confusing things to other people; but this utterly and completely confused him. Why could Nathan not tell Haley whatever had happened (he had already given up on trying to get the actual story form his brother), and get their group back together? Whatever it was that Nathan had done, had ripped apart their group. Never had they been this distant with each other. Never had secrets been kept between them, and never had they ever been separated the way they were right now. "This has changed everything Nathan. If you can set it right, then why the hell wouldn't you?"_

"_It would hurt her more than I already did." He didn't leave room for argument; he walked away, not looking back for a moment._

Haley locked eyes with Lucas, seeing what he was thinking, just by looking into his eyes. He was trying to tell her something, and she knew it. He was telling her his side of what had happened, and his look of how it had happened. She knew that much. But when he got to one specific part, she couldn't place the feeling. She was confused. Silent story-telling isn't as useful when someone doesn't understand. "Just because he didn't mean to doesn't mean he didn't."

"Haley, he did something… Something unforgivable. But something else he did. Something that you don't know about, just might make you see that he would never intentionally hurt you."

Haley stepped off of the bed, heading for the door. She had a lot to think about, and only a few minutes to figure it out before she would have to do something, for fear of loosing her mind.

When she reached the door, her hand already on the handle, she turned back to her life-long friend and spoke slowly. "Yeah, well, accidents happen." And then she was gone.

* * *

Haley knocked on the bedroom door, and waited to be told that she could enter. She had to do this right if it was going to work. She wasn't sure what she should say, or how she should say it, but she knew she had to say or do something. She had to have answers, and this seemed to be as good a time as any to get them.

She heard a deep voice say "come in" and she put her hand on the door handle tentatively. She took a deep breath to fruitlessly calm her nerves, and turned the knob, pushing softly.

She stood just inside the room, leaning against the wall beside the door, her hands clasped behind her back, just watching him watch her. She knew that she would need to speak soon; she was the one that came to his room after all. "I need to talk to you." She said simply. Simple is good. It's the opposite of complicated. Complicated is bad, and this situation is complicated multiplied by ten-thousand.

"About what?" The tone of her voice scared him. She never talked with that little emotion. She was an emotional waterfall. She couldn't conceal her emotions behind a façade for very long, but in the mean time, he didn't know what to do, or how to precieve her new-found nonchalance.

"About Taylor."

He gave an exasperated sigh. He knew about Taylor. She didn't. He'd like to keep it that way, but as the wall to her waterfall of emotions started to crack, he could tell that that option was already out the window. "What about her?"

"The fact that you knew, and didn't tell me." She was biting her bottom lip, like she always did when she was nervous.

"Knew what?" _Deny, deny, deny, don't admit it!_

"That she was just trying to hurt me." The wall was gone. The pain stretching for miles. "I don't see why you didn't tell me. I hated you, and you tried to protect me. I just don't understand." She was fighting back the tears that always seemed to be so close to the edge. She couldn't conceal the pain anymore. It just hurt too much.

"I guess I didn't want to hurt you more than I already had."

"But you could have hurt me more. I treated you horrible, and you could have thrown this in my face. You could have gotten yourself off the hook, making me feel even worse, and making me even sicker to my stomach with betrayal, and you didn't. After all the of the terrible things I said and did to you, you never made me hate her more; the way I should."

"I guess you do stupid things when you're in love."

Haley's head snapped up from the thread of carpet she had been focusing on. "You can't do that." She said watery, her voice thick with unshed tears.

"Do what? Tell you that I've been in love with you since I was thirteen? Why not? You did it to me, and then just walked away." She could tell that he was hurt, he had been hurting for the past two and a half years, and he rarely let it show in the way he acted, and now his feelings were blowing up in her face. She couldn't blame him for that. She had done worse to him, and she knew it.

"That's different."

"How is it different? Because it's you? What would you do if I walked away right now? How would you feel?" His voice had risen to a dangerous level, but he didn't care much, he hadn't shown her the way he felt, and if this conversation was going the way he thought it was, she deserved to know that he had been hurt too. She wasn't the only one that had felt betrayed and lost. He lost his best friend the same way she did. And he had to live with the guilt that it was entirely his fault. She didn't know anything of that.

"No. Not because it's me. You kissed me, and I got scared. You hurt me Nathan! You hurt me so bad! I don't know if I can ever forgive you for that!" She was yelling too. It was the only thing she could think of that would get all of their feelings out. An argument sometimes makes you say things you don't mean. But more often than not, it makes you say things that you didn't mean to say aloud.

"Haley, don't you think I got hurt? I knew for over two years that I didn't do half of the things you thought, and I carried that around with me every single day, knowing that if I told you that you would probably forgive me! You think that didn't hurt? It hurt like hell!" He had walked so close to her by now, she could smell his minty breath, his nose nearly touching hers. She didn't know what to make of him, or what else to say.

The closeness surprised him. He hadn't meant to approach her, or to get this close. He just looked into her eyes longingly, wishing for things to go back to how they were supposed to be; when them being this close hadn't been a problem; when the fact that they were in this close proximity, was used as a source of amusement for their friends; when they were in love, but denied it constantly, for fear of the others true feelings. At the time, they begged and prayed for a simpler time; but now they prayed for those complicated turns in comparison to the drama and heartache they suffered now.

"I'm never meant to hurt you Hales." The way their voices had softened was surprising, going from such hostile tones, to soft and intimate. Not that either were complaining.

"I know that. But it didn't make it hurt any less." Her breath tickled his chin, the space between them decreasing by the second.

"I'll never hurt you again Hales. And that's a promise." Her eyes fluttered shut, knowing what would happen when she did, and understanding what such a thing would mean. He took her shut eyes as a sign, and ducked down to kiss her.

* * *

**A.N:** Cliffie—But not really… I haven't started the next chapter yet, but I'm about to, and I think it will be the last… maybe… depending on how the writing goes. I'm pretty sure it will be a based on a song and mostly drabbles, with maybe a set up for the sequel. I might not do the sequel set-up though, for people who aren't that interested in it… I haven't decided yet….

I am going to admit something to you guys: the past… three chapters have all been me buying for time/chapters. I'm trying to come up with stuff to try and push Haley and Nathan together, and I think I have it now. Please be patient. I originally had them getting together when Haley let it slip about her being in love with him (chapter 10 I believe), but when I reexamined the context and thought about some of the reviews that I've gotten, saying things like: "I want Naley to get together, but I know Haley's gonna need time to get over this", I rethought that. I think that if I were in Haley's position (and I actually believed in true love) I would want to be certain that I wouldn't get hurt again. I'd need some sort of convincing, and a lot of soul searching to put myself on the line the way love puts you on the line. I believe that love is just a recipe for hurt. But I am also a romantic (when it doesn't come to myself). So I hope you guys liked this chapter.

Please use that lil purple button!

Keira


	15. Epilogue

**A.N:** I would just like to apologize that it took so long for me to get this chapter up and working. First I was staying at my Aunt's house because of spring break, even though that only lasted half the week, because then I realized that I might have mono (I'm not sure though, because I haven't gone to the doctor, I only know that I might have it because the Friday before either of us knew we might have it, my friend and I drank after each other, and she has it), and I was barely able to sit up for a week, much less actually write. Then I had writers block. Yepp… There are my excuses. Another Authors Note at the end…

* * *

_Cause when push comes to shove  
You taste what you're made of  
You might bend 'til you break  
Cause it's all you can take  
On your knees you look up  
Decide you've had enough  
You get mad, you get strong  
Wipe your hands, shake it off  
Then you stand, then you stand_

**-Rascal Flatts**

**Chapter 14: **In the end…

Haley stood outside the school wearily. She didn't want to go in yet. Going in there, she would be judged. She had changed over the past summer, not physically, but in every other sense. When she had left this school three months ago, she was sad and confused, and now she was happy, and carefree. She could name countless synonyms and antonyms that could describe the changes she had undergone over the summer; but only two words really summed up the vastness of her newfound growth in happiness: Nathan Scott.

Ever since that day, about a month into summer vacation, the day she had gone to Nathan's room to talk about her sister, they had been inseparable again. Brooke had commented numerous times on the smile that never seemed to leave Haley's face, though Brooke usually put it down to sex… _and she wasn't completely off target_ Haley thought with a smirk. It seemed like she had gone into the past three years, and pulled out the two people they used to be, minus the drama and insecurities they felt about the other person.

But now she was back in this place; the one place that seemed to loom with an overbearing sense of doom in Haley's mind. They could be judge, watched, and feel insecure again. In the beach house, insecurity was lost; but back in Tree Hill, the rules were changed.

Haley was so caught up in her own thoughts, chewing on her lower lip and examining the looming high school, she didn't even notice the tall figure standing next to her that cast her in shadow. Little did she know that he was having the same doubts that she was. This was a different place, a different time, and a different aspect of life than the time they had spent on the beach in California. He was afraid that this would change her mind, or bring back unwanted memories. This was the place where all of the rules that they had laid down, were changed.

But when he looked over to Haley, all of his worries and doubts dissipated. He knew what she was thinking, and how she was feeling, but it shouldn't be worrying them. It was their lives, and they could do with it what they wanted, no high school rumor-mill would stop that.

He took her hand softly, giving her the strength to walk further up the sidewalk.

"It'll be okay, Hales. Always and Forever, right?" Just the sound of his voice gave her the strength she would need for all the questioning and badgering she would get from the student body of Tree Hill High. Because no matter what; he was worth it. She smiled brightly, the far away sight of Brooke waving them over to a group of friends barely recognizable as Nathan leant down to kiss her; right in the middle of the quad. And that alone gave her the strength to enter Tree Hill High, starting her last year that she would spend there. But she wasn't sad. She knew, with Nathan with her again, that this year would be the best.

* * *

The first basketball game. _Midnight Madness._ The crowd was cheering deafeningly loud, shouting to the players and cheerleaders that lined the court. Haley was standing at the entrance to the locker rooms, looking around the wall to the darkened gym. This was the first game she would attend after rejoining the Ravens Cheerleaders; come to think of it, it was the first basketball game she would attend in three years. She wasn't sure what to think or how to act; this was all foreign to her again. She hadn't done this in three years, and she was nervous.

She looked to the side of the court where Lucas, Peyton, Jake, and Nathan were huddled, laughing about something or other; then it hit her: they did this for the past three years without her. No matter how much time they all spent as a group through the past three years, they always had this one night without her, without the moody girl, without the girl that would randomly burst out in tears, without Tutor-Girl; and she couldn't help but feel jealous.

"Glad to have you back Hales," Bevin called as she exited the locker room and headed onto the court, joining the awaiting squad. The gesture sent a smile to Haley's face. She had been missed, that was always comforting to know.

"_Nathan. You'd be better off without me." Haley said sullenly. They were sitting on his bed, right after their little make-out session. They had both known that they would have to have this conversation sooner or later, but they had both hoped on later. But sometimes your prayers didn't get answered, and the conversation had come up without either of realizing from where. _

"_Why would you say that?" He asked confusedly. _

"_I don't have a whole heart to give you Nathan." She was looking at her hand, twisting them in her lap. She was in love with him. Sure she was. But was love really enough to outweigh all of the bad things that could come from their relationship? Did she really want to put herself on the line to be hurt again?_

_Of course she did. _

_She just wanted _Nathan_ to say that she wouldn't get hurt again._

"_Nothing lasts forever Nathan."_

"_But Haley, we will. Always and Forever."_

Haley remembered that day anytime she had doubts of her relationship with Nathan or in herself. That day, and that conversation marked the first time she felt truly happy in years, and that happiness seemed to follow her around on a daily basis.

"Is this actually Haley James feeling self-conscious?" A voice from behind her asked mockingly. She turned around to face the heavy-lacquered face of Nat Watson, Tree Hill High's resident 'bad-girl'. Haley thought that the title was a load of crap. Sure, she was barely passing most of her classes because of her numerous suspensions, and she was pretty mean to her friends, but a lot of people were. Brooke was the popular girl that knew it, Peyton was a misfit in the popular-crowd, and Nathan, Lucas, and Jake were the stars of the basketball team. Most of the people that objected to high schools self-proclaimed royalty weren't nice to her friends, or her. She was the popular nerd with a basketball-star boyfriend and the pompoms to match; most of the people labeled a 'misfit' weren't too thrilled about the titles that people were labeled under in high school. But Haley actually felt sorry for the people that thrived with those titles, including herself. The people who could function without having the 'most popular' title were the people that would most likely be able to make their own out in the real world. It was one of her recurring nightmares that she wouldn't be able to. People like Nat Watson that lived with the constant whispers and constant disapproval of others, and that didn't thrive with approval and self-satisfaction would live a happy life.

"Is it so shocking that I have insecurities? I am human after all." She said with venom. She knew that if Nat came anywhere near her, she should prepare for a fight, one that would be a battle of wits and superiority, and she just wasn't in the mood for such a fight.

"No, it's just that usually the Queen-Bee has her head stuck in the middle of the party, not sitting off to the side of it biting her lip. Shouldn't you be thinking 'What Would Taylor James Do In This Situation'? WWTJDITS. I think it's the next new thing."

"I'm not the Queen-Bee. Brooke is, and I don't know what you're talking about. I do not thrive to be the slut that my sister was." She said, her mouth curving into a malicious grimace. How dare she bring up her sister?

"Oh, have I struck a nerve?" Nat asked, tilting her head to the side in mock pity.

"Yes you have, now can you just leave me be?"

"After you realize something. You have just spent the last five minutes arguing with the class loser; normally you would have walked away after the sister comment. Everyone knows what happened between you and Taylor. You're more of a coward than I ever thought the Queen could be." She raised her left eyebrow in a dare, and smiled when she saw the words sink into Haley's mind. "I guess cliques don't mean as much as I thought they did. You're the same as I am."

Haley took a deep breath and smiled through the tears that threatened to fall. "You didn't believe that before?"

"Of course I did." She said hastily, tucking a strand of her red and black streaked hair behind her ear. "But seeing Haley James feeling this self-conscious about her friends spending time together without her just confirms that even the Queen is human." She smiled and turned to walk away down the hall, but Haley called her back.

"If you have such a problem with the cliques, why do you come to the games?" She asked quickly, not quite understanding the reasoning behind something like that. She knew that the cliques would be out in full force at a basketball game, but she came anyways. It made no sense.

"Just because I have a problem with you and your friends doesn't mean I don't like basketball." She said sneakily as she turned the corner, a full blown smile spread across her face.

* * *

Christmas. Her last Christmas at home before going off to college, not that it mattered much, because she would be going to college with the people she was spending this Christmas with. Brooke, Lucas and Nathan had come to wake her on Christmas morning in a not so nice way.

She had been silently slumbering in her warm bed, the soft snow against her windowsill the only sound in her little universe, when suddenly, a loud chorus of 'FROSTY THE SNORTMAN' echoed through her room. She let out a loud shriek, and fell onto the feet of two of her friends. She rubbed her head and gave a few curses as her 'friends' laughed at her disgruntled face.

She stood up with Brooke's help, and straightened her sweat pants so that they weren't hanging off of her backside, and gave a glare towards her friends before breaking out in laughter. "Frosty the Snortman. I remember when we made that remix in sixth grade! Our parents yelled at us for an hour after sang it to them."

"we thought you'd enjoy that." Nathan said as he laid his arm across her shoulders, and pulled her in for a kiss on the forehead.

"I didn't enjoy it at all. You woke me up from a rather amazing dream. I was sitting in the snow when all of a sudden… Okay, I'm going to stop talking now. You guys don't need to know the rest." She said with and embarrassed smile and shrug of her shoulders.

"Okay, good. We'll be downstairs weighting for you then. Your breath kinda stinks, so I would recommend brushing your teeth and changing into pants that don't keep falling down before coming and joining us." Brooke said in her normal cheery voice as she bounced out of the room.

Lucas just rolled his eyes and followed behind his girlfriend, who had started singing 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' in a loud, off-key tone.

"Don't worry Hales, I don't mind if your breath stinks." Nathan whispered in her ear softly with a smile of his own as Haley slapped him on the arm, and flounced out of her room to take a shower.

* * *

The last game of the season. The championship game. Tree Hill vs. Pickerington. No matter which way you put it, it was going to be interesting. More than half of the student body of Tree Hill High was packed into the large gymnasium, screaming their heads off for their home team. The Ravens were up by three, but the Hicks had the ball. Martin, the player with the ball was at half court with both Nathan and Tim on his tail, trying to steal, but it was a fruitless attempt. He scored from the three point line, putting the game in a tie.

**00:10**

With ten seconds on the clock, Lucas stole the ball from Newton, one of the Hicks, and tried to get around the opposing teams defense, but wasn't able to. He found the open man, who just happened to be Nathan. Haley watched from the side lines as Nathan dribbled up the court to the three point line, but he was being triple teamed, so he passed to Tim.

**00:08**

Eight seconds to the buzzer, and Tim was looking at Nathan with wide brown eyes, looking as if he were standing in front of a loaded gun, the ball held as far away from his body as he could manage. The second he saw the players around Nathan start to disperse, he sent the ball flying back to the captain.

**00:05**

Nathan rolled his eyes, smirking as he headed back towards the net, not even bothering to try and get through the throng of players that blocked his way to make a dunk shot.

**00:03**

He jumped up, sneaking a look in Haley's direction, as he flicked his wrist. She was smiling so widely, waving her pompoms along with all the other cheerleaders, yelling her brains out as her boyfriend tried to make the game winning/losing shot.

**00:00**

The buzzer sounded after the ball was already in the air. It seemed like the room went silent to Nathan, only the ball flying through the air, cheap movie theatrics ringing through his brain along with the buzz of the over-joyous crowd.

Haley watched from the sidelines as Nathan took his shot, her hands clasped in a silent prayer in front of her. She was silently praying for the shot to go in; not only for Nathan and the guilt he would feel if he didn't make the shot, but also for the whole team, and whole school. She had seen when Nathan snuck a look towards her; she couldn't help but smile that he would think to look at he rat such an important time for him,a dn it sent shivers down her spine.

The ball hit the rim and bounced… into the net. Haley screamed a high pitched scream and ran as fast as she could around the joyous and unhappy players blocking her way to the man of the game. Lucas had just propelled a jump by putting his hands on the back of Nathan's shoulders, and yelling triumphantly about his friends amazing shot. Haley could see the whole team closing in towards her boyfriend, but she wanted to get there faster.

She picked up her pace, dropping her pompoms on the floor, and jumped onto her boyfriend, wrapping her legs around his waist, and kissing him fiercely. The two were too caught up in their moment to even notice the flashing of various cameras that documented their 'Champions Trophy Kiss'; or at least that's how it was titled in the school paper, the town paper, and both Haley and Brooke's scrapbooks.

* * *

Haley walked to the wooden podium, her index cards clutched between her two hands. She was the valedictorian. She had to do her speech. There was no backing down from it. There was no escape. No fear of public speaking could stand in the way now.

She stood on the stage, in front of all of her peers, the people she had spent the past four years, or more, with; and suddenly her speech about the future didn't seem relevant anymore. She wanted people to remember her as the valedictorian. Not remember that they had fallen asleep during her speech. She took a deep breath, and began to talk.

"I had a whole speech prepared. I thought that it was perfect. Intellectual, a touch of humor, and enough big words for a few of you to be confused by the end." She smiled at Lucas, who was silently laughing, and turned her index cards face-down, looking into the crowd at large. "But you don't care, do you? You don't care that I'm valedictorian, or what my take on the future is. A few of you are probably cursing me under your breath because you wanted to be the one up here right now. But I can tell you something right now: being your valedictorian doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is that I can look into this crowd and name at least one thing that each and every one of you have taught me over the years." She turned to a blonde girl in the second row, and smiled at her. Clair Danes, you taught me that blue and red make purple in the first grade." She turned to a Hispanic boy sitting a few seats away from Peyton, and nodded to him. "Chase Santiago. You told me on the first day of freshman year, never to go into the janitor's closet in the 300 corridor without knocking first." There was a chorus of laughter that circulated through the crowd as she turned to Teresa. "Teresa Martinez. You taught me how to do a straddle jump without kicking Brooke in the head." Another few laughs went around the football field as she turned to Peyton. "Peyton Sawyer. You taught me that I can trust people, even when we don't make the best first impressions." She watched as Peyton blushed, and grabbed hold of Lucas' arm, trying to hide her face. "Yeah, don't think I forgot that." She told her friend good-naturedly. She turned to Lucas, who was trying to get Peyton to show her face again, and had to fight to hold back her own laugh. "Lucas Scott, you taught me that things aren't always as they seem." She turned to the very back of the crowd, where a girl in heavy eye-line, deep red lipstick, and a scowl to match her mean eyes sat. "Natalie Watson. You taught me that high school cliques are useless. I always knew it, but hearing it from you really made it stick. I'm glad I got to know you this year."

A few whispers crept through the crowd; no one had ever imagined that Haley James would ever socialize with Nat Watson. It was just unheard of, and completely shocking. Haley James was a cheerleader and valedictorian. Nat Watson was a Goth that had been suspended from school more times than anyone cared to count, and was lucky to be graduating at all. But as the whispers carried on, Haley kept talking, either not noticing or not caring about the talk that was being exchanged by the gossip moguls that sat in the seats in front of her. What would girls like that do once they left high school? "Brooke Davis. You taught me to be brave. Time and time again, you've had to talk some sense into me, and time and time again I screw it up. I remember the last time you had to yell at me for being stupid. It was almost a year ago, and I was a completely different person. What we talked about that night, I want you to know that I'm going to try my best not to screw it up again." That chat she had had with Brooke in her car after Teresa's party would forever be etched in Haley's mind. That was the night where hope started to shine a little brighter, and the darkness faded a little. "Jake Jagelski. You taught me to laugh. Even when I was the most desperate and messed-up, you put a smile on my face, and I'll be forever grateful for that." She turned to the very middle of the crowd, and faced a girl with vibrant red hair, and dark brown eyes. "Rachel Gatina. You taught me how to hold back from punching someone." A few more laughs rolled through the crowd while Rachel rolled her eyes, and smiled.

Haley only had one more person that she wanted to thank, and to her, it was the most important person, but she couldn't really think of a way to word her thanks. "Nathan Scott." She locked her brown eyes to his blue, and took a deep breath. "You taught me more than I could ever tell you. You've been my best friend since before I could remember, and for that I'll be forever grateful. Not that many people can put up with me. But most of all, you gave me hope. Hope had been the one thing I was missing, and you gave it back to me."

* * *

She had to tell him now. She couldn't keep it bottled up anymore. She _had_ to tell him, and she _had_ to do it now. She took a deep breath, and turned towards him, away from the beautiful sunset that was playing out over the horizon. She was an odd one when it came to beauty. Most people would want to watch the sunset over the ocean (not that you could find that in North Carolina), but Haley loved to watch the sun set over the buildings of downtown Wilmington. She wasn't sure why, but it just screamed 'beauty' to her.

She looked at his silhouette, illuminated by the orange glow of the late summer sun. She couldn't keep this from him for another moment. She had to tell him before he told her more of his plans for them while they went to Duke; when in reality, she wasn't going to Duke. She had applied there, and gotten in, but she had sent an 'acceptance of placement' back to Stanford, not Duke.

"Nathan, I have to tell you something." When he turned to her, his eyes were bulging, and he looked worried, and she had to shake her head. "No it's nothing like that." He visibly relaxed, and pulled her closer into his chest, trying to take in all of the feelings of that summer, and bottle them into his mind so that he would never forget them.

"What is it Hales?" Haley clutched to his thin cotton shirt, knowing that when she told him, he wouldn't be too happy, and that this perfect moment would be ruined. She only hoped that their whole relationship wouldn't be ruined.

She balled the fabric into her fist, willing herself not to cry. There was no need to cry. She needed to act sure of her decision, she couldn't let him see that she wasn't sure of it, or he would question it. "I'm going to Stanford, Nathan."

"What do you mean you're going to Stanford?" Nathan asked, not sure if he had heard her right, and not wanting to make a scene if he had.

"Nathan, I love you, you know I do, and I'd do anything for you. But I want to go to Stanford. You know that I've always wanted to. I want to do it for me; but I also want to know that you're not going to hate me for it." She was scared of what he thought. She didn't want this to affect what they had.

"I could never hate you Haley." _But I don't like this; and I know why._ His mind was moving at an alarmingly fast rate, cooking up paranoid hypotheses, and telling him things that he didn't want to believe. He didn't want to believe that she was doing this to hurt him; or that she was doing it as some form of payback.

He didn't want to believe it, but it was hard not to in this situation.

**To Be Continued.

* * *

**

**A.N: **Well… there it is: The end of Best Friends for Never. I have to say that I'm sad for it to end… But the sequel should be out soon… so that's what gets me through my sleepless nights (even though I never sleep at night… I'm nockturnal, and I sleep during the day…).

All my love (no kisses though, because I don't want to get you sick too)…

I want to thank all of my amazing reviewers and readers. Even if you don't review, I still appreciate looking at my 'stats' and finding that I've had more people reading. I know that I'm definitely not the brightest writer in the world, but you guys have made me feel amazing. **Thank you all. **I love you more than I can say.

**Keira.**

**P.S.** The sequel will be out soon. I promise that. I have the first chapter written mostly, and I think it will be out soon. I kind of want to wait, and hold it ransom, because, frankly, I want to get to 200 reviews… _BUT_ I'm not going to do that… though I would still like those reviews :D. I'm going to leave this story open so that I can announce when the sequel is released for all the people that don't have me on Author Alert.

I will be seeing you all soon… I promise… I'm probably going to wait a week or so to post it… So look out for the sequel soon!


	16. Sequel Has Been Posted

Well, I know that I said that I would post an alert of when I posted the sequel, and I kind of forgot to do it when I really did post it. It's posted now… so go check it out… sorry about the delay.

Best Friends for Never is now officially out of business.

Lots of Love to all of my reviewers and readers… All of it is for you guys.

-Keira


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